Mexico: Historic Frosts Destroy More Than 600 Hectares of Crops

More than 600 hectares of crops were totally lost last because of last weekend's frost, in which temperatures dropped down to -15 degrees Celsius, said Adolfo Bonilla Gomez, the head of the Secretariat of the Field (Secampo) of Zacatecas.

According to the first evaluations carried out by personnel from Secampo, the event affected fruit and vegetable crops in the south and southeast of the state.

The largest losses were recorded in the production of guava. More than 200 hectares of this crop in various municipalities were affected, as well as 100 hectares of lettuce and broccoli.

Bonilla Gomez said that they carried out evaluations to verify the damages and that they would monitor fruit trees, such as vine or peach, in the next few days to determine if they had also been affected.

He also said that the spring-summer vegetative cycle in the areas where it had rained had ended weeks ago, so they had not been affected. However, he added, there were minor effects on vegetables and fruit trees of the producers who work with irrigation, who had planted their crops late, or who work in protected agriculture.

Finally, Bonilla Gomez said they would continue to supervise the areas that are planted in the autumn-winter season, especially the garlic and onion seedlings, to determine the amount of damage there has been.

Source: elfinanciero.com.mx