Fruit harvesting, packing and exports continue in Colombia after the recent heavy rains, flooding and displacement of thousands of people in the country. Some lemon and exotic fruit fields were spared the flooding, which mostly took place around the capital city of Bogotá.
The Magdalena River is a priority for the Government of Change. Photo - MinTransporte
Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared a national state of emergency two weeks ago. One commentator noted they had double the amount of rain that fell in Bogotá compared to what recently fell in Valencia, Spain. The government has prioritized emergency relief for the cities of Bogotá, La Guajira, and Chocó due to the severe impact of the floods on thousands of people in these areas. The city of Medellín, the departmental capital of Antioquia, was at risk too. "The increasing climate variability is exposing our most vulnerable regions to greater risk," the President said.
Isabel Murillo, a fruit export consultant from Colombia, says some farms are heavily affected. The departments of Norte de Santander, Boyacá and Santander also experienced extreme weather conditions, some farms damaged by the hailstorms. "This phenomenon affects the whole country, due to the excess of rains the production drops, the rising rivers overflowed, which damaged crops, farms in the middle of the water, it is a bit complicated."
Juan Pablo Duque, CEO of Equilibria Agro, a new Colombian lime grower and exporter, said "The floods had more of an indirect impact on the farms in their area of the country. It is affecting the cities more. We had to help and give donations to help people. There are some families who lost everything. In terms of the industry I have not heard anything of floods in the citrus industry. We have had no floods in the area we are in. In our particular case for the limes we need the rains. In fact, we need more rain for the fields." Recovery efforts are underway in Colombia.
For more information:
Isabel Murillo
Tel: +57 3203749365
Email: [email protected]
Juan Pablo Duque
Equilibria
Tel: +57 310 8630769
Email: [email protected]
www.equilibriaagro.co