Frontal System leaves serious damage to the Chilean fruit sector: There will be less volume of production and exports
The frontal system that affected the south-central area of the country, during the past weekend, with areas that in some cases saw rains of up to 70 mm, left serious damage to fruit crops. Fact that was reported by Ronald Bown Fernández, president of the Association of Fruit Exporters of Chile AG (ASOEX), who expressed the concern that exists in the sector, given the dimension of the damage, which until yesterday was visualized, especially in fruits such as table grapes, blueberries and stone fruits in full production and harvest season.
"It is unfortunate what is happening at the country level, and in the fruit sector in particular, since this front of bad weather adds to the challenges that our industry has been facing, derived, especially from the pandemic and the shortage of hand work to harvest, apart from the worrying outlook in China for our cherries. Although, we know that the production volume and exports will be affected, today measuring the global level of the impact on the sector is difficult, even more so when in some areas it continues to rain, others are isolated, and there are effects, such as rot, that they can be seen, in more detail, as the days go by. We hope to have a more complete report next week ”, observed yesterday Ronald Bown, President of ASOEX.
Blueberries
Bown, specified that, according to information from the technical teams deployed in the different fruit-producing areas of the country, as well as from the ASOEX Committee on Table Grapes, Blueberries and Carozos. “We are living a very complex time for the sector and the country. At this time (yesterday afternoon) we have received new reports of splitting in blueberries from later zones, especially in the Brightwell and Ochlockonee varieties, while in the Last Call variety, the situation is under evaluation. However, the damage observed so far will affect the volume of production and export for this 2020-2021 season ”.
In this regard, it should be remembered that last September, the Chilean Blueberry Committee of ASOEX, delivered a first estimate for the 2020-2021 season, indicating that exports of 154.050 tons were expected to be reached. Of this amount, 111.551 tons would correspond to fresh blueberries, with an increase of 2% compared to last season, adding 42.500 tons of shipments of frozen blueberries (+ 1,2%). Estimate that given the frontal system could be lower.
Table grapes and stone
In the case of table grapes, the president of ASOEX pointed out: “There are very damaged crops, not only with cracks that are already evident, but also due to the fall of vineyard barracks due to the weight of the water. For example, in Rancagua, an important area in the production of this fruit, the Thompson variety is already showing evidence of "crescent disease" or "nail disease", associated with a fungus that rots the grain and damages any attempt to commercialize the fruit. Furthermore, today (yesterday morning) there was a fall of hail in the area, the effects of which are currently being evaluated ”.
It should be noted that ASOEX, last December, reported the first estimate of the export grape industry, placing shipments for a total of 2020 standardized boxes of 2021 kg for the year 82.309.644-8,2, corresponding to 674.939 tons. A figure that would be 12,5% higher than last season, but that might not be the case today.
In the case of stone fruit, especially peaches and plums, "there is loss of fruit, either due to partitioning or possible rotting," added the leader.
Strawberries, Raspberries and Walnuts
For his part, the president of Socabío, José Miguel Stegmeier, indicated that in the Biobío area there is damage, mainly to berries such as blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, “surely there will be some losses due to not being able to harvest in the rain and also due to fall of fruits ”.
In the case of walnut trees and other fruit trees that are in the ripening process, the Socabío leader warned that “safeguards should be taken to avoid fungus caused by excessive humidity”, which will imply the use of fungicides, which increases costs end of production.
Malloa was one of the communes in Chile that was most affected by the frontal system that affected much of the country this weekend. It was to that commune in the O'Higgins region, where the Minister of Agriculture, María Emilia Undurrga, traveled yesterday Sunday to verify, monitor and evaluate on the ground the losses suffered by the affected families, especially small farmers.
The minister pointed out that she found significant damage among families that depend on agriculture, “some of them - more than 1800 farmers - who are beneficiaries of Indap who have committed insurance, we will see what damage they have to direct the aid, also those who have access to credits and in the case of other small farmers who are not part of these benefits, we are carrying out the cadastre to activate other resources that contribute to solving this agricultural emergency ”.
María Emilia Undurraga highlighted the collaborative work that must take place in these emergencies between the public and private world, “because when we come together we better overcome these emergencies, we want to accompany, register and measure the losses and damages to come with the necessary help for farmers and farmers ”.
The minister also participated in an Agro cabinet together with the other directors of Minagri services, the regional mayor Rebeca Cofré, the mayor of the Arturo Campos commune and the director of Onemi in the María Alejandra Riquelme region. "We are seeing an integral solution, we have to clean channels with the National Irrigation Commission, here we are as a ministry with its 13 services at our disposal," said Minister Undurraga, who added that "climate change is affecting us, not only with the fires that we saw a few days ago, today we see hail and agriculture is an activity that is very strongly affected by climatic conditions, therefore, we are going to work in the short term with measures and in the long term to have an agriculture adapted to these environmental conditions ”.
Finally, the Minister indicated that during this week the ministry will have the land registry at the national level in coordination with the respective seremías to carry out an analysis of affectation and damage, and evaluate in each area the possibility of decreeing the agricultural emergency. In this way, the aid channel is defined in each affected region and sector.
Check here the reports of rainfall, developed by the Foundation for Fruit Development (FDF)
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