Chile’s farmers’ unions have released an estimate of losses following the heavy rains that affected the central and south-central parts of the country this week, which amounts to 600 million dollars.
“In a first assessment of losses, with an approximate figure, we calculate that they are around 600 million dollars,” the president of the National Agricultural Society (SNA), Antonio Walker, said at a press conference.
“The figure managed to double the losses recorded in June, when there was also a front of bad weather in the area, an opportunity in which there were losses of $300 million for the agricultural sector,” Walker said.
“This catastrophic climatic phenomenon for the sector, mainly in the Maule [south-central] region, had not been seen 30 years ago,” he added.
The union leader asked the government to accelerate the work of aid and reconstruction in the most affected areas since, in October, farmers begin the process of cultivation for the rest of the year.
“We must give priority to water infrastructure and the reconstruction of roads because now comes the flowering period,” he concluded.
On Friday, August 18, a front of bad weather began in the central and south-central areas of the country with heavy rains that caused the deaths of three people and left 25,000 homeless.
Chile’s government decreed a state of catastrophe to speed up rescue procedures and the delivery of aid and announced a bonus for farmers that will range from 600 to 6,000 dollars, depending on the degree of damage suffered.
