Rains give welcome boost to farmers in Malaga province and offer some optimism for the industry

Drought, rising costs and unfair competition with third countries form a trio of threats that permanently hover over agriculture and livestock farming in Malaga province. At least in one of them, the lack of water, there is good news. The abundant rainfall over the last few days in the province has given a strong boost to the sector and has given optimism to agriculture and livestock farms. The industry's professional bodies and associations highlight the beneficial effects of these rains and that any incidents have been "minimal". The only 'but' they say is that the distribution of the showers has been uneven across the various areas.

President of Asaja Malaga (the agricultural employers' association), Baldomero Bellido, valued these rains "very positively" because they are "beneficial" for the sector as they are providing water without causing significant damage. "Farmers and livestock farmers could not be happier with these rains," said the secretary-general for the UPA association for small-scale farmers in the province, Francisco Moscoso, while his Coag farmers' group counterpart (another farmers' , Antonio Rodríguez, stressed that so far the balance is "very good, very positive".

This rainfall benefits the different production sectors: fruit farming from trees (olive groves, citrus trees, almond trees and vineyards), cereals, subtropical crops and fruit and vegetable products. It also has favourable effects on the environment by alleviating the situation for pine, chestnut and cork oak trees in the mountain areas that "were drying out", as Rodríguez reminded us.

As the saying goes, although it is only March, these rains have come 'like water in May' for a sector that is constantly watching the skies and in recent years has been suffering the harsh consequences of the drought. In addition to alleviating the water stress that the countryside in Malaga is going through, this rainfall is helping to recharge the aquifers.

The main issue is that it is not raining homogeneously in the different parts of the province where most farming occurs. The head of Coag provides one example: while in the Guadalhorce and Ardales areas up to 450 litres per square metre have been measured, in Axarquia - one of the places most affected by the drought - only around 160 litres have been collected to date.

In this respect, the president of Asaja explained that the fact that the distribution of rainfall is not uniform throughout the province is causing inequalities in the recovery of crops. "In the case of olive groves, this rainfall represents hope for the next harvest, although its real effect can only be assessed after the fruit sets, which is expected in May", said Baldomero Bellido, who expressed his confidence that the weather forecasts predicting more rain will be fulfilled and "will continue to benefit the Malaga countryside without causing problems."

Regarding the damage to date, the three farming organisations consulted by SUR agreed that the incidents were not serious and were limited to some occasional runoffs, several overflows of streams and rivers that have slightly affected areas used for cultivation or damage to roads that are easy to repair.

Staying on the topic of damages, Bellido again denounced that despite the "complicated" situation faced by many farmers after the two Dana weather events last autumn, new municipalities have not yet been included in the lists of affected areas, nor have measures been implemented to alleviate the difficulties of the sector.

Nevertheless, these representatives from the agricultural organisations are hopeful that this improvement in the water situation in the province will translate into more favourable measures for farmers and livestock breeders when it comes to accessing future irrigation as well as a reduction in water supply costs for livestock farms.

"We are confident that there will be a reduction in the cost of access to water," stated Moscoso. Bellido remarked that, although for this year it will not be necessary to request irrigation relief measures like last year, at the next meeting of the technical committee for drought management, Asaja will request that the irrigation plan "considers more favourable measures for farmers, if they have not already been included."

In turn, Antonio Rodríguez called for people not to lower their guard, but to take advantage of this "breathe of fresh air" from the sky in the form of rain to speed up the pending hydraulic improvement projects "so that when a new cycle of drought conditions come, we are prepared to face the situation with guarantees."