The Young Farmers (ASAJA Alicante) have expressed their concern about the terrible consequences that could be brought to agriculture, with the arrival of a rainy season in the area around the mouth of the Segura River in the coming months.
The association has now denounced denounces a lack of any action by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and their absolute neglect and abandonment of the old section of the river, where the reeds and mud block the natural outlet of all the waters of the Vega Baja through six outlets.
The State Meteorological Agency, say that with the Mediterranean Sea at more than 30 degrees, the high possibility of cold drop over the region is very real.
“Three years have passed since the DANA and there has been no action taken to correct the problems at the river mouth or proposals of any protocols that will enable us to prevent the significant damage that we farmers previously suffered.”
Smallholders called for the urgent cleaning, dredging and maintenance of the old channel of the Segura River so that the waters can find their natural outlet. They also proposed a number of other possible solutions that would help prevent flooding, such as raising the N-332 highway between Guardamar del Segura and San Fulgencio to eliminate the barrier effect that kept thousands of hectares of crops and urban areas under water during the 2019 DANA, as well as the construction of a fourth archway in the Carlos III bridge in Rojales.
“There has been plenty of time and money but there are no visible results… we haven’t learned anything,” the group laments.
A spokesman for the ASAJA said there is great concern of farmers in the lower part of the region in the face of an episode of torrential rains, which would see the next cultivation of winter vegetables, such as artichokes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and peppers, put in very great danger.
