Bitter harvest for Spanish farmers as floods swamp fields
Valencia key citrus area in world's top orange exporter
Floods affected thousands of hectares of farmland
Farmers say crops lost, fear trees could die
By Corina Pons
MADRID, Oct 31 (Reuters) -Spanish fruit farmer Bernardo Ferrer was just about to harvest his crop of oranges and persimmon when deadly floods devastated vast tracts of farmland in the Valencia region.
After visiting his mud-cloaked fields on Thursday, Ferrer said everything had been lost - his trees caked in thick silt that will make harvesting impossible.
"Now the fruit is going to rot. Even the trees can die because they have been under water for 36 hours ... With the heat, the humidity, the fungus will attack them too," he told Reuters by phone from his farm in the Alzira area.
Valencia as a whole accounts for nearly two-thirds of citrus fruit production in Spain - the world's top exporter of oranges. Persimmon, a soft, orange-coloured fruit is another major regional crop, along with avocados, almonds and grapes for wine-making.
The floods, which have killed at least 95 people and caused massive damage to infrastructure, have affected thousands of hectares of farmland, agricultural groups and farmers said.
"We are facing a catastrophe ... the losses will be in the millions (of euros)," said Ricardo Bayo, secretary of the Union of Small Producers (UPA) in Valencia.
Another farming group, the Valencia Farmers' Association, said orange, persimmon and mandarin crops were among those that would be lost.
In the rice-growing area of Albufera, fields were totally sumerged, with only a few farm buildings and trees visible above the water, Reuters pictures showed.
Ferrer said he was relieved he had insurance to cover his losses.
"The insurance (payout) usually arrives quite quickly but with this scale we'll have to be patient," he said.
But while citrus crops are generally insured in the region, the proportion of vineyards and nut crops with insurance is low, Bayo said.
The association of Spanish agricultural insurance companies, Agroseguro, said damage caused by the flooding would be covered.
Insurers will begin to process applications once insured farmers and cattle breeders can access their farms to take stock of the damage, the association said in a statement.
The floods also washed away machinery, irrigation systems and roads, said Manuel Alcaide, spokesman for farmers' association COAG, who said it was too early to calculate losses.
Many farmers are still unable to access their farms, he added.
Livestock was also killed as the floodwaters swept in.
In Utiel, one of the worst-affected towns in Valencia, Javier Iranzo and Ana Carmen Fernandez said the flooding had completely wrecked their pig farm, with 50 of their animals having drowned.
Reporting by Corina Pons;
Editing by Charlie Devereux and Helen Popper
Berita Terkini
Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
