The agricultural sector of Entre Ríos suffers the worst face of the drought with “great death of cows and the liquidation of part of the stock by small and medium-sized producers, since they cannot feed the animals,” said the Entre Ríos Agrarian Federation. Regional crops such as citriculture are also affected by the lack of rain, with smaller fruits.
“The rainfall, low millimeters in vast regions of the provincial territory, brought some relief, but did not solve anything,” they indicated from the rural entity.
Horacio Bauer, president of the Agrarian Federation branch in Urdinarrain and tambero, said that “The fields have turned into deserts and we were forced, in the last week, to lock up the dairy herd. We have silos based on sorghum and some pasture that we were able to do in December, they are reserves that allow us to continue for at least a month.”
The yield of the milking cows “dropped 20%, and the body condition of the cows is 2.5 (measured from 1 to 5), losing half a point in the last month,” highlights the producer. He closed by saying that he has “had a problem with abortions in cows by heat stress in the order of 15%“.
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Martín Rigoni, President of the Citrus Growers Association of Villa del Rosario commented that “The lack of water directly impacts the yields, especially the size of the fruit that in a good percentage it does not arrive with what is desired for what is the internal market and that fruit ends up being destined for the industry. Many lots ended up below optimal yields last year and the same is expected for this 2023 with the aggravating circumstance that we have been affected by drought for two consecutive years.”
On the other hand, Rigoni commented: “we have a fruit reduction due to burning of the same due to the high temperatures, even in farms that have an irrigation system, at noon or early afternoon, one passes and it is as if they had not received water. The situation is desperate and we are guarding against heavy rains, ”he concluded.
Sebastián Klug, Director of the Agrarian Youth of FAA Entre Ríos, a producer in the Bovril area, indicated that “There is no grass left on the mountains, they are bare. Trees and bare ground can be seen. The only thing that can be seen is cow dung and, if there is any grass, it is dry, it has nothing of substance. The natural waters have completely dried up and there are some problems in the wells due to the fact that the groundwater levels have dropped by a meter and a half in the last three weeks”.
LM/ds
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