The president of the Mexican Strawberry Pro Market Association, Jaime Arrendo Salazar, said that 60 to 70 percent of the traditionally grown strawberry crops in Irapuato, i.e. at least 600 hectares, were at risk of being lost if the rains continued.
According to the director of the Japami, Humberto Rosiles Alvarez, the temperatures recorded in Irapuato on Wednesday reached minus eight degrees Celsius and the area accumulated four to five millimetres of rain.
This could be beneficial for some crops, but not the strawberry crops.
Jaime Arredondo said that there were almost 1,500 hectares of strawberries crops in Irapuato and that between 600 and 700 of them were still planted in the traditional way, i.e outdoors, so the rains could affect the harvest because the excess water rots strawberries. Thus, he said, if it continues raining there could be significant losses in the production this year.
"When it didn't rain it was very cold," said the strawberry producer, who recalled that there were years in which the losses were great, as low temperatures and rains damaged the production. Thus, producers were asked to move their crops into macro-tunnel systems so that the weather conditions didn't have such a big impact on production. Last year, the number of producers that changed their crops to this system increased by 50% but there still remain some strawberry producers that have not changed.
This system helped increase production. In previous years production went from December to February, but now producers have been producing and exporting the product to the US since last October and, if the rains stop, producers from all systems will continue their production until April.
"We hope it won't rain that much and that it won't last many days," said the producer. According to Sagarpa, Strawberry production in Irapuato between January and November last year amounted to 10,935 tons worth 62.8 million pesos.
The rains will continue
The director of Japami said that, according to the weather forecast, there would be occasional rains and low temperatures throughout the month.
Even though the forecast predicts light rains, things can change as the cold fronts move so temperatures could continue to decrease.
So far, he said, the rain in the municipality has been minimal and hasn't negatively affected the crops but, he added, they would be watching the water pumps and the points of conflict already identified in Irapuato to see how they fare.
Source: periodicocorreo.com.mx