Urgent help asked for damaged potatoes

These early potato crops are usually exported to the UK, amongst other countries, because they are ready to sell to the public weeks before the potatoes harvested in the UK are ready. Unfortunately, due to the latest “big freeze” that hit Majorca, many of these early crops were damaged and so farmers and farming organisations were not in the position to export potato crops abroad. As a result they are losing a good chunk of their yearly revenue.

The President of ASAJA, Biel Company, has called for a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, so that he can discuss the likelihood of getting financial aid in compensation for those crops that were most affected by the adverse weather over the last few days.

Potato crops that were the most affected by this snow and frost, were those ready for exportation in the North of Majorca, Sa Pobla and Muro. “Even though the farmers have been doing all they can to prevent this damage, for example watering the fields at night and ploughing to prevent further bad crops, the damage has still happened”, said the union.

Company said that after his preliminary talk with Moner to try to tackle this matter, the Minister “appeared to be ready to attend other meetings where necessary in order to find feasible solutions, once her own administration team had assessed the damage and the farmers who had been affected”.

It is hoped that the solutions will largely involve financial aid, from the Balearic Government and the central Ministry of Agriculture, to help compensate in part for the losses that many farmers in Sa Pobla and Muro have recently experienced, said Company. He also said that this weather has been extremely unlucky for the farmers involved, as their insurance does not cover crop losses due to bad weather.

This is naturally a big blow, he added.