Jorge Valenzuela, president of this union, pointed out that the fruit sector currently provides about 700,000 jobs, but if the current situation continues, there will be regions that will stop producing fruit or will decrease due to lack of water.
For the past 11 years, this country has been experiencing a serious drought, especially in the central region, which is the most populous and in which the main agricultural areas are located, due to the lack of rainfall as a result of climate change and also due to poor management of water resources.
In a statement, Fedefruta stated that from now on “farmers will have to decide what to grow and what not to plant”, as in the case of avocado plantations, an important exportable variety, which requires between seven thousand and 16 thousand cubic meters of citrus. water per hectare per year.
As for the climate crisis affecting the entire planet which this week came back to the fore after the bad news presented by the report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change, the union has raised the need for action in the country.
In this regard, he suggested designing a state policy beyond the current government, and strengthening support measures for the agricultural sector, given its importance not only in providing employment but also as a guarantor of food security.
He also called for the implementation of a “plan for desalination plants financed by the state to ensure human consumption, food and production activity” despite the rejection of this option in environmental circles because of the problems it causes to biodiversity.
Valenzuela finally noted that “if we do not deal with these emergencies due to drought, we will only be able to plunge further into the fragility of rural areas that has been put on hold for so many years.”
This year’s drought worsened in the country and July ended up being the driest in history, while the unusually warm winter’s high temperatures prevented snow from accumulating in most of the Andes mountain range.
This is a bad prediction, according to scientists, because snow is what guarantees the availability of water for the spring and summer.
ga / rc