Horticultural small producers from Alto Parana are using plastics and tents to cope with the low temperatures. According to forecasts, temperatures will drop down to 1°C on Saturday and producers fear the frost will damage their crops.
"The Minister of Agriculture, Juan Carlos Baruja, visited us and told us he had been sent by the President of the Republic. That's very encouraging, let's see how committed they are," said Teodoro Galeano, producer from El Triunfo, in Minga Guazu.
He stated that the production project that had been submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Interior, and the Itaipu Binacional had been prepared according to the need of each producer. He also estimated that they needed 500 greenhouses to meet demand.
The producer added that nothing could be done now. He said that, last week, he had visited the Departmental Development Council of the governor of Alto Parana, the body where all projects at the department level are presented. "However, this is a long process. In the meantime producers must find ways to defend their crops, we can only rely on ourselves at the moment," he said.
Galeano said that, as all producers from Juan Emilio O'Leary, he had had to come up with his own solutions. "We got plastics and tents to cover the plants. It'll help a little. According to forecasts its going to be very cold," he said.
Tomato producers from the district of Juan Emilio O'Leary are also scared of losing much of their production. In this sector the department has 130,000 tomato plants, and only 10,000 of them are undercover. Narciso Guerrero, president of the Horticultural Producers Fair, said that if the frost were too strong there would be a lack of product in the market. "Some people are already harvesting, others are watering their crops, while others make fires. It is not easy, and some people have no chance so they'll lose everything with a heavy frost," he said.
