For the third consecutive day, the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Jose Hernandez Calderon, continued his tour of the areas of Piura that were affected by the rains and floods. He met with producer organizations and announced that the government would start delivering the bonds of S/ 1,000 per hectare damaged within 10 days.
From the Bajo Piura, Hernandez Calderon the Ministry would issue legal rules in the coming days to expedite the delivery of bonds for those affected by the natural phenomena, after a registration process that has been coordinated with local authorities and irrigators of each area that was impacted by the weather events.
"We are conducting a registration process of those affected in close coordination with local authorities and irrigators. We'll start delivering this help in 10 days and we are working on the legal standards necessary to expedite it. The registry is being done very quickly and can be verified with the help of satellite technology to collect information from the areas that lost crops," he said.
Minister Hernandez also said that the Ministry was working to expand the coverage of the agricultural insurance against catastrophes (SAC), as well as the scope of its application to extend the benefits to a greater number of farmers, whose crops have suffered the ravages of nature.
Agricultural exports would not be affected
At another point, the minister said that the most affected crop in Piura had been organic bananas, as the roads to market this product had been affected and producers were unable to transport their production to the collection and packaging centers. However, the Minister said, they were mobilizing heavy machinery to clean the roads and rural roads to facilitate the transport of people and goods.
"The banana boxes are already reaching the packaging centers and are being sent to the markets," he said.
Hernandez said that the grape and mango harvest in Piura had ended before the onset of the rainy season and that the producers of this products had not been affected by the climate. "Agricultural exports were not significantly affected by rains. We will continue to place our agricultural products in the markets," he said.
The Ministry estimated that agricultural exports would amount to US $6,000 million at the end of the year.
Reconstruction
Minister Hernandez said he had visited the valley of Chira, San Lorenzo, Morropon, Bajo Piura and other areas that had suffered the ravages of the natural phenomenon, and that he had met with mayors and the heads of irrigator commissions to assess the damage to productive infrastructure and crop areas.
"The damage to water infrastructure (in Piura) amount to S /25 million. We are coordinating with local and regional authorities the rehabilitation work," he said.
The impact has been detected in crop areas, irrigation equipment and channels, output roads for the products, and access paths, among others.
Since the beginning of the rainfall, the Sub-sector Irrigation Program (PSI) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has been working with the Regional Direction of Agriculture (DRA) of the regional Government of Piura, mayors, and user unions to mitigate the impacts of the weather events on the agricultural activity.
Regarding the situation in Tumbes, the minister said that, so far, 1,600 hectares, mainly of banana crops, were affected. The Ministry continues monitoring the evaluation of hydraulic infrastructure impacted by the rainfall and flooding.
Source: agraria.pe