After years of severe drought, the forecast for this season's availability of water for fruit growing in the Region of Coquimbo is optimistic.
The director of Fedefruta and president of the Agricultural Society of the North (SAN), María Inés Figari, said that Chile's largest reservoir, La Paloma, which is located in the province of Limari, will reach 50% of its capacity after the snow melts, i.e. 375 million cubic meters of water. "The other reservoirs in the region are all reaching full capacity, and even more," he stated.
The water resources for the coming season will be a topic of the next Regional Fruit Producers Meeting in Ovalle, in which representatives of Fedefruta will get together with farmers associated to the SAN on Thursday October 13, where experts will analyze the situation.
Producers are also optimistic because of the spring. "We've had a very good spring so far, which is very important for production. We have a good arrangement of labor that has returned from mining, we have very favorable market conditions, so everything is working out in the best way possible," said Maria Ines Figari, who was honored in Santiago on Monday at the SNA Agricultural National Meeting for her union career in Coquimbo.
The years of drought that dramatically affected the rural areas left their mark in the region. "We lost our working capital funds because of the lower harvests we achieved due to the lack of water. We need the bank to trust and believe in us now that we have this good scenario," Figari said. She also stated that the agricultural sector in Coquimbo required funding to recover the hectares that were left without irrigation during the water crisis.
In this regard, the Fedefruta's and the SAN's Regional Meeting will analyze the financial tools available for agriculture. "We have become a commodity to the banking system and that is really harming us," Figari said. "Agriculture must have a preferential seat and, as Chileans, we must really care about it because it is what drives thousands of families in the country, brings revenue to Chile, reactivates the economy and distinguishes us in the rest of the world, so there is no reason not to take care of our business," she added.
"We are in a good condition and that could only be affected by some complicated weather event," she stated. Francisco Meza will partake in the INIA's program to talk about the impact of the current phase of El Niño and the weather forecast for the agricultural sector.
The program and registration form of the new Regional Fruit Producers Meeting in Ovalle, which also includes a presentation on family businesses in agriculture, is available at this address at no cost.