The melon production came in late as some hectares were burned by the cold weather and the rest was planted very late. The sector lost an important market and the season's best prices.
Almost all of this season's Sarmiento's novelty melon, which is harvested and sold in the beginning of December to the most important markets in the country, was lost due to late frosts that affected more than 25,000 acres of fruits and vegetables throughout the province. Sarmiento, a leading producer of melon, produces 70% of the novelty varieties most affected by the frost. The producers who had planted the fruit during the beginning of September lost their plants to the frosts, and those who had decided to wait, because of the weather forecasts, lost a month's work, which in turn made the fruit lose its novelty factor.
Since the novelty melon fetches top prices due to it being one of the first on the market, the economic impact was also high, however, there are no estimated figures of the sector's economic losses. "Producers from Sarmiento tend to grow the novelty melon because it leaves the best profit margin. 70% of them are planting the novelty melon here," said Pedro Mestre, director of Produccion de Sarmiento.
Each season, San Juan produces some 5 million melons of different commercial qualities. Due to the late production this year, their melons will have to compete with other production areas such as Mendoza and La Rioja once they hit the markets this week.
Guillermo Videla, from the Association of Small Melon Producers in Tres Esquinas, said that he hadn't been affected by the cold because he had decided to plant later, but that the producers who had planted earlier had lost their crops to the frosts had reseeded their plantations after the frost. "I'm about to harvest now which is unusual, I would have harvested novelty melons on the first days of December normally. People who lost their crops had to replant and make further investments." said the producer.
Source: Tiempodesanjuan.com