The Lleida plain has registered in recent days the first spring frosts, with an especially delicate early morning between Thursday and Friday, when thermometers dropped to 3 negative degrees in some points. The situation keeps the agricultural sector on alert, which now faces a weekend with a persistent risk of new thermal drops.
The lowest temperatures in the fruit-growing area were located in areas of Lleida city such as Marimunt and in municipalities such as La Portella, Benavent de Segrià, Albesa and Algerri. In Térmens and Menàrguens, the drop was around 1 negative degree.
Watering for hours to protect the fruit
To reduce the impact of the cold, frost defense systems, especially sprinkler irrigation, operated for hours on numerous farms. The objective was to protect production at a sensitive moment of the campaign.
From Asaja Catalunya, for the moment, some problem is foreseen in specific almond farms or of some variety of stone fruit without means to combat the cold. Lacking a more precise assessment, the concern is concentrated in those farms with less capacity to respond to frost episodes.
The next critical early morning will be that of Sunday to Monday
The alert for risk of frosts will remain throughout the entire weekend. The sector is focused on the night from Sunday to Monday, which right now is presented as the most complex due to the forecast of new lows in the Lleida plain.
In this context, the sub-delegate of the Government, José Crespín, and the director of Agroseguro in Catalonia, Xavier Joana, visited the farm of Joan Ramon Morell, a producer from Aitona, to analyze the situation of agricultural insurance in Lleida and the scenario that the countryside faces in the face of increasingly frequent meteorological episodes.
More policies and more insured capital in the province
During the last year, farmers and ranchers from the province of Lleida contracted 19,155 agricultural insurance policies, 15% more. The insured capital grew by almost 10% reaching 1,048 million, while the insured area increased by 6% and reached 283,085 hectares.
The compensations paid amounted to 60.6 million throughout the past year, a figure that reflects the weight these coverages have gained in a territory especially exposed to meteorological instability.
"It is not a complementary option, it is a structural tool to guarantee the viability of farms" - José Crespín, subdelegate of the Government
Crespín encouraged the sector to trust in agricultural insurance in a context marked by climate change and by episodes like those of these days, with the field awaiting the evolution of temperatures in one of the most sensitive phases for a good part of Lleida's fruit.