Although in other regions the rainfall has dealt hard blows to the agricultural sector, the storms that have been recorded in recent days in the province of Valencia have also had some positive consequences for agriculture. In the Safor region, not only have the intermittent rains not caused losses to orange growers, but have actually saved them a significant expense in the irrigation of citrus plots throughout the month of September, reports Vicent Faro, head of the Valencian Association of Agricultural Producers (AVA-Asaja).
"Each producer is going to save 50 Euro in irrigation per hanegada this month," Faro said. Producers with smaller plots have at least six, seven or eight hectares of land, "so the amounts that won't have to be paid are significant."
For Faro, this is good news for the regional agricultural sector, since the season has not had the best of starts. "The price paid for oranges is the same as two seasons ago. There are no profits and many more expenses, and more and more producers are consequently leaving farming plots due to low profitability."
In the first 15 days of September, between "150 and 180 l / m2 of rain have fallen in La Safor, depending on the area. These are very good data", since they guarantee the humidity that the tree needs for weeks and makes watering unnecessary for a whole month," said the head of AVA.
The production of larger calibers is another benefit of these rains. Faro said that intermittent rainfall makes the water seep better, and that the roots of the orange trees can absorb almost all of it. Thus, the tree does its work "much more efficiently" and citrus fruits achieve a larger size, which is positive for their subsequent sale. Another beneficial aspect of these rains is that rainfall serves to clean the leaves so that the tree can better perform the photosynthesis.
Source: lasprovincias.es