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Date Published: 10/08/2022

ARCHIVED - The Lorca almond at serious risk due to drought

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Farmers in Lorca have urgently requested a ‘Water Table’ to fairly distribute water

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - The Lorca almond at serious risk due to drought

Almond production in the Lorca districts of La Paca, Zarcilla de Ramos and Las Terreras is “seriously threatened” this year due to a startling lack of water to irrigate this valuable crop. According to the president of the Campo Alto Irrigation Community, Juan García Corbalán, if there is no relief soon then the almond will fail to mature, costing more than 320 producers their entire annual harvest.

The same fate will befall the olive which, together with the almond, accounts for 60% of the income received by farmers in the area.

"We agree that this is dry land, and we don't want water to replace our plantations with more profitable ones such as those produced in the orchard area, but we need resources to be able to maintain the native crops that we have," Mr García explained.

The painful irony of the situation is that just a few kilometres away, water is flowing freely through Coy, Avilés and Doña Inés even in the midst of an August heatwave, thanks to abundant rainfall earlier in the year. However, none of the water from these underground outcrops reaches La Paca or Zarcilla de Ramos.

The farmers insist that they don’t want to take irrigation from other crops that need it, but have asked that a ‘Water Table’ be created for the Lorca Highlands, so that any unused water can be fairly redistributed. The Lorca City Council, the Ministry of Agriculture and the CHS have already been approached with this proposal.

"Our call is desperate, we just want to be able to continue living from our crops," Mr García concluded.

You might also like: Lorca joins national awareness campaign to protect endangered sea turtles

Image: Pixabay

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