Pilar Mazo
Logroño, (EFE).- The orchard of the Iregua basin, which is supplied by the Pajares and González Lacasa reservoirs, advances towards wasteland if the drought persists and irrigation is not modernized, according to the impression transferred this Wednesday to EFE by some farmers in the area.
These farmers are concerned about the future of their woody crops, such as fruit trees and vines, which do not depend on an annual harvest cycle, like cereals, but require between 5 and 6 years for the plant to come into production.
The districts of Albelda de Iregua and Lardero are some of the most affected in the basin by this situation of drought, given their expanses of fruit trees, especially conference pears, which have seen reduced irrigation due to the lack of modernization infrastructure and the state of the two reservoirs, since the González Lacasa reservoir is at 53.7% of its capacity and the Pajares reservoir at 35.2%.
The nearly lost crop
Daniel Gómez Pascual, a farmer from Albelda, has some 31 hectares planted, of which 29 are conference pears and 2 apples.
As he explained to EFE, his pear crop is practically lost, although what worries him the most is “how his farm will be” for next year”, since in year-on-year crops, such as fruit and vineyard, “there is no way to start the cycle” if the woody -in this case the tree- weakens.
“The Iregua valley used to be an orchard and it is going to become, before long, a wasteland, a dry land”, he recounted.
He has stressed that he has one hectare of fruit planted that he irrigates by dripping, but it is still a small part of the total farm.
In this regard, he has agreed with the approach of the Ministry of Agriculture that the field of the future is modernized or it will not be.
From his point of view, “drip irrigation is an investment and should not be seen as an expense.”
He has appealed to the need to invest in irrigation modernization because “we cannot have the most modern agricultural machinery and be irrigating with a hoe”.
This year “there is a total debacle due to the drought. There are people (farmers) who still do not see the problem and there are going to be farms that are not going to bear it ”, he said, while stressing the importance of committing to the modernization of irrigation.
Realistic, concerned and optimistic
Jesús Sicilia, a farmer from Alberite, also acknowledged to EFE that the Albelda de Iregua and Lardero plantations have the worst situation due to their extension of fruit trees, which “are under tremendous stress.”
Even so, this farmer, who has planted some 80 hectares of conference pear, peach and vineyard distributed in Alberite, Lardero and Albelda, has been “optimistic”, despite the “complexity of the situation” due to the drought.
He has specified that the two irrigations per harvest that have been guaranteed are not enough, in which Daniel Gómez Pascual has also agreed, since the fruit tree is still dragging the consequences of the 2017 drought, when there were restrictions with 5 irrigations.
Realistic, although less pessimistic, Sicilia has been shown, who has said that “we have never had such a bad year and there have never been irrigation problems, but there are cycles and not everything can be attributed to climate change.”
“I have faith that it will rain and that the situation can improve because, otherwise, I don’t even want to think about what it might have,” he specified.
Sicily has also stressed that the solution to the agriculture of the future also involves the modernization of irrigation.
Both farmers have recognized that the measures proposed by the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation are late, such as reducing the ecological flow or giving priority to irrigation to multi-annual woody crops over annual ones, such as cereals.
In addition, they have lamented the consequences that this situation poses to the young farmers who have opted for the countryside.