Ribeira Grande, Portugal, Aug. 29, 2024 (Lusa) - The president of the Azores Agricultural Federation said on Thursday that the drought in the archipelago is widespread across all the islands, and in some cases, it is a ‘very worrying’ situation, especially due to the lack of water for animals.
‘The drought situation is very worrying on some islands. This year is atypical because, although the drought started later, it is beginning to affect some crops, more so on some islands than others,’ Jorge Rita told Lusa.
The Agricultural Federation of the Azores president said that the costs and losses associated with the drought are being assessed based on information from various agricultural organisations on the islands.
‘What is causing us some concern here is the lack of water to supply the animals, which could be even more complicated. We already know that some crops are unrecoverable, but the lack of water for animals can also be a complex situation,’ he emphasised.
According to Jorge Rita, although the situation is widespread in the archipelago, there is a ‘greater focus’ on Pico, Santa Maria, Graciosa, São Jorge and ‘some dramatic areas’ of São Miguel.
‘At the end of the day, all the islands get it a bit, although some more than others, but it's across the board. We'll analyse it to see what's best for the farmers,’ he said.
The representative, who also chairs the São Miguel Agricultural Association, was speaking after a visit by the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Food to the maize experimentation field run by the São Miguel association.
At the field, he said, they are trying to find out which varieties of fodder maize are most resistant to drought, as this will have ‘many implications’ for producing this ‘indispensable food for livestock’.
‘On the part of farmers, the investment in fodder maize per year is over €20 million, but the commercial value of the maize as a whole is between €30 million and €40 million in the Azores,’ he stressed.
He said associations, companies, the regional government and universities must work together to ensure that the agricultural sector is ‘prepared for longer droughts’.
‘It's important that the scientific community joins in with these initiatives and that the regional government provides universities with mechanisms for research, together with companies, so that we have better and better seeds,’ he said.
He concluded: ‘In the times to come, we don't know what will happen. Climate change is evident all over the world. There's nothing like us proactively starting to prepare for that.’
Agricultural producers on the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores, are feeding their animals silage and hay due to the lack of pasture in the fields because of the dry weather, the island's Agricultural Producers Cooperative told Lusa on Wednesday.
On Friday, the Terra Verde Association said it was calculating the impact of the drought on agricultural production, which has reached up to 70% in some crops, to hand over to the government of the Azores.
The Azores have been under a yellow weather warning for several days this month (the least serious on a scale of three) due to the hot weather, with maximum temperatures of between 29ºC and 30ºC and minimum temperatures of between 21ºC and 23ºC, unusual for the nine islands.
RPYP/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
