The government has offered $300 bonuses to farmers whose crops have been damaged by Sara’s rains.
The rains caused by Tropical Storm Sara have affected 61,523 apples of bean and corn, equivalent to 1.8 million quintals of these basic grains, according to the Salvadoran Chamber Association of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers (Campo) on Tuesday.
1.4 million quintals would have been lost in corn and another 425,000 quintals, in beans in both the east and west.
In monetary terms, farmers have lost an investment of $65.2 million, according to the damage balance shared by Luis Tremino, president of this producer union.
The association is still collecting more data to provide information about the losses.
According to Álvaro Portillo, one of the farmers in the area of Chalchuapa and Santa Ana Oeste, after several days without rain, the farmers had already started the corn that was about to be removed, to take advantage of winning a little in this harvest, because it had not rained for those of 25 days.
But when Sara’s rains arrive, everything torn has been flooded and the losses have been more heavy.
In the case of beans, the RAMFICATE has been able to verify several areas affected by the rains, because this is the time when farmers harvest the last planting, when they plant 75% of the beans obtained from the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture, for its part, began yesterday a deployment of 200 technicians to count the affected areas of land.
The government has offered a $300 bond to farmers who report losses on their crops. The money will be given to them through the agricultural bonus card that can only be rededited for agricultural inputs in authorized agroservices.
This article has been translated after appearing in La Prensa Grafica