The constant rains of the last weeks swept away the open air production in Misiones, to the point that citrus producers have reported losses of up to 50% in their productions and do not know if they'll be able to invest for next season.
The citrus growers said the damage in the citrus orchards was enormous, as the rains didn't allow them to harvest and many plants lost their leaves. In addition, the excess water also affected the fruit's quality.
Carlos Satur, a member of the Association of Citrus Producers from Misiones, told the media that "taking into account what couldn't be harvested and the loss of quality, producers lost 50% of the citrus production because of the rains."
According to Satur, until last week, thousands of citrus fruits remained on farms and producers could only watch on as their losses increased, as they had no possibility of harvesting a good export fruit. He also added that the chance of picking quality fruit was very low, especially because the rains are forecasted to return in the next few days.
"Very few tons can be sent to the juice industry. It's impossible to harvest with so much rain and the fruit is falling from the trees because it has already ripened. The producers' goal was to obtain quality citrus to export it because it has a better economic performance," he added.
Satur, who is also the production manager for the CTM division, said that the situation is also complicated because the roads were also affected by the rains, so there are varieties that are practically lost because the citrus growers who worked to produce a quality fruit, couldn't achieve it, and can't take it out.
The producer said they were having losses because of a series of factors, for example, he said, "in one of the varieties we have about 2,500 tons to harvest, but we've only managed to harvest 300 tons. We'll do all that we can so that the losses are not greater than estimated."
Satur said that the nadorcot variety was lost, "it wasn't possible to harvest about 2,500 tons of fresh fruit that were destined for export. Some producers could harvest small quantities, but they were destined for industry."
The truth is that the "picture is complicated, because there are about 4,000 tons of Murcott that can not be harvested because of the rains," he said.
Source: SimFRUIT according to Primera Edición de Misiones