The Alicante ASAJA agricultural association has reported that just 10 minutes of hail that fell last week in the Vega Baja del Segura, hitting towns such as San Fulgencio, Dolores, Almoradí, Benejúzar, Orihuela, Jacarilla and Bigastro, has caused serious damage to fruit trees – especially citrus – and vegetables that will cause significant economic losses for the Alicante countryside.
Although they are waiting for the official estimates of the damage, which will be definitively determined by the expert reports, the agricultural association, in a first assessment, estimates that 4,500 hectares of crops and 50,000 tons of lemons, tangerines, oranges, pomegranates and vegetables have been affected throughout the region.
Alicante ASAJA also points of that around 60% of damaged crops do not have agricultural insurance, since many farmers have decided this year not to insure their crops after the tightening of conditions imposed by Agroseguro, which has eliminated insurance coverage for wind quality damage, and other factors.
Likewise, they add that this serious cut has the complicity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food headed by Luis Planas, who despite having publicly promised that the insurance would gain coverage, the reality is the opposite, thus pushing many producers into not contracting cover, leaving them totally unprotected and exposed to adverse weather phenomena, with the loss of profitability that this entails.
In the last act of protest against Agroseguro, the Alicante association assured that “we do not agree with its mercantilist policy. Every day more rights are taken away from us, premiums are more expensive, higher deductibles are established, and coverage and risks are eliminated. The system is deteriorating in situations like this hailstorm, and Agroseguro’s response does not compensate for the losses.”
