The president of the Association of Horticulturists of Yucatan, Jose Filomeno Tejero Poot reported that the drought is beginning to affect the cultivation of some field foods such as cilantro, radish and mint, which are becoming scarce in the state’s markets.
He said that the prolonged drought keeps the land very dry, and although plants and seeds are sown, the dryness of the soil does not allow the flowering and harvesting of field foods; all this causes economic losses to the horticulturists who run out of vegetables to sell in the markets and obtain income for their families.
He emphasized that there is a shortage of coriander, mint, pumpkin, cucumber, radish, only where light rains fall, these crops are not enough to supply the market, and also prices rise considerably for consumers.
He stressed that most of the horticulturists depend on the rainy season to have a good harvest of field food, they do not have irrigation systems, they lack electric and diesel pumps, and electrified wells to irrigate their crops with water, to obtain harvests to sell in the markets.
Finally, Tejero Poot pointed out that so far what has affected them is the drought, although due to the scarcity of rainfall, pests appear that eat the plants they have planted and they need pesticides to fight them; fortunately, the producers do not report fire damage to their hectares of crops, although the fires are getting more and more intense.
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