The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Felipe Arauz Cavallini, stated that the effects of the heavy rains fallen in the last hours in several communities in the Caribbean have the agricultural sector institutions on alert and in constant coordination with the National Emergency Commission to address the needs of communities and productive sectors, so that they can maintain sources of employment in the area.
Arauz Cavallini initiated conversations with different sectors to find out what the main problems they faced were and gave instructions to start identifying solutions in the short term.
In the case of agricultural production, there is concern about the destruction of at least three levees, which caused the flooding of a major banana production area. There is also concern about the delay, caused by the closure of roads, in the arrival of products to the export docks, as exporters have to use alternate routes.
"Although it is too early to give preliminary figures, since it is necessary to wait for the water to decrease in order to measure the impact the floods had on pastures and crops, it's clear that the damage caused by excess water in the soil and infrastructure is considerable, "said Arauz.
According to the first reports of the regional offices of MAG in Sarapiqui, Huetar Caribbean and Turrialba, there are reports of damages in tropical root crops, such as banana, palm, guava, corn, rice, palm, cocoa, as well as pastures, which causes losses in the cattle developments in these communities. Many small dairy farmers are unable to deliver their product and the storage tanks are saturated.
The main problems are that farms are flooded, the rivers are overflowing, and the isolation caused by road closures.