By EFE
Aug 16, 2024, 09:40 AM EDT
San Juan – Puerto Rico’s Agriculture Secretary Ramón González Beiró said Friday that the island’s agricultural sector suffered millions of dollars in losses due to Tropical Storm Ernesto.
The banana, vegetable and coffee sectors have reported the most losses, so farmers can now file their damages with the Agricultural Insurance Corporation, González Beiró said in a statement.
“We are beginning to identify the damage and visit several of the most affected farms. It is regrettable, our sector is always greatly affected by weather events,” said the senior official of the Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture.
The head of agriculture, however, said that all agency staff are working to identify aid to support farmers after officials visited the municipalities most affected by the storm.
González Beiró also said that, at the moment, there is no estimated amount of damage caused by Ernesto, “because we are counting and receiving information from farmers.”
According to him, the reported damages are concentrated in the eastern part of Puerto Rico, where there are several flooded farms in the municipalities of Yabucoa, Maunabo, Naguabo and Juncos after the passage of the tropical system last Wednesday.
“In the southern area of Puerto Rico we have losses in vegetables such as pumpkin, melon, among other crops due to the rains,” he explained.
“Regarding the coffee sector, those who were already in the process of harvesting suffered the ravages of the storm. We still do not have an estimate of how many coffee growers were affected and in the mountain area there is damage to plantains and bananas since they have fallen,” he added.
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