Córdoba, (EFE) lack of rain
Once 20% of the area insured by the combined agricultural insurance system has been appraised, the initial calculations offered by Agroseguro have been exceeded. Since the yields per hectare are being lower than originally expected.
Until this week, around 30,000 hectares had been appraised. A work that has had to stop due to the rains of recent days, according to what the territorial director in Andalusia of Agroseguro, Juan Francisco Delgado, told EFE.
The around 40 million losses will be more than double the 18.7 million that Agroseguro paid for all the damages in 2022 for all dryland arable crops. This is a record figure in the history of agricultural insurance in Andalusia.
The 2022 figure had been the highest paid as compensation for arables. Not only because of the drought, as in this case, and it was triple that of 2021, which was 5.5 million.
herbaceous and leguminous
The crops affected by the drought are winter cereals, such as durum wheat, soft wheat, barley and triticale. And legumes, like peas and beans. And the evolution of sunflower and chickpeas, which are already spring crops, pointed out the person in charge of Agroseguro.
The reason that the yields are even lower than expected is a consequence, specified Juan Francisco Delgado, of the intense heat that occurred during a week in April. What is causing them to be around 15 or 20 percent below the initial forecasts.
If initially losses of 28 million euros were expected, now they can exceed 40. That is to say, that it is going to go “notably up”, with special incidence in the provinces of Seville and Córdoba.
Damages above 70% in Seville
In the first case, the damage is around 70 or 72 percent, according to the regional manager of Agroseguro. Which means that in an area like Carmona the actual harvest is around a thousand kilos of cereal, when 3,500 are usually expected.
While in the first calculations, with the drought, between 1,000 and 1,100 kilos per hectare were expected in Seville, the expert opinion is confirming that it is at 850. And that, in any case, it does not reach 900 kilos, according to Delgado.
It is in the Sevillian province where the greatest economic damage is produced. Since it is where about half of the insured area in the whole of Andalusia meets. Although it was in Granada and Malaga where “the highest damage is occurring”, since the yield per hectare is the lowest in the community.
Córdoba is the second most affected province, where it was expected to exceed 1,000 kilos per hectare and between 950 and 1,000. While in Cádiz is where the best data is obtained, with a yield of around 1,400 kilos per hectare.
Reinforcement in the assessment of damages
Until the week before the rains, around sixty Agroseguro experts have been working. Last ten more were incorporated and next Monday it is expected that they will be able to go out into the field to assess the eighty damage. Once the rains have stopped.
Of the 202 million euros of insured capital of dryland cereal, the province of Seville is the one with the largest part, with 99 million. Ahead of Córdoba, with 43, and Cádiz, with 38.
The rest is distributed among the other five Andalusian provinces, with an insured capital ranging between two and six million euros.
The majority crop is wheat (hard and soft), with more than 120,000 hectares. Followed by the sunflower, with 80,000. And the rest correspond to another twenty arable crops, cereal, legumes and rapeseed, according to data from Agroseguro.
As a whole, the Andalusian countryside is protected by the Spanish combined agricultural insurance system against drought for a total of 348,505 hectares. This represents an insured capital of 263 million euros. EFE