The east of the state is beginning to feel the ravages of the drought, several ranches in the area appear without grasslands and their animals look skinny.
Livestock farmers have seen the need to reduce their livestock herd, marketing to avoid declines in their specimens.
However, some producers anticipated the situation in advance and are supporting the animals with silos that they created.
Wilberth Monforte Aguilar, leader of the ranchers in Espita, points out that the union is addressing the drought by selling their animals before they die.
He even says that entire cages of fattening animals are going to the center of the country because the producer is preventing a crisis on his ranches.
He declared that he hopes that the rains will fall in May, in the meantime he will have to support his animals with forage.
Monforte Aguilar said that the worst thing is that with the subsidy that the government took away from them in terms of electricity, it is difficult to maintain the irrigation systems on the ranches because the bills are getting stratospherically high.
“The ranchers cannot irrigate, this makes the situation more complicated. The only thing we have is to provide an outlet for our animals,” he expressed.
For his part, Mario Mena Narváez, a rancher from Panabá, says that they are going through a very difficult situation with the current drought.
During the entire season, at most 6 rains have been recorded and therefore the pastures are dry, there is no grass, and only rocks can be seen in the land.
He explained that a phenomenon occurred in which two droughts collided. They were barely assimilating the previous season and this one comes, and it seems like it’s going to be a long one.
As if that were not enough, it indicates that there is no extra support from the state government, nor the Regional Livestock Union of Eastern Yucatán (Ugroy), much less from the National Confederation of Livestock Farmers.
He recalled that in previous times efforts were made to send additional support to ranchers to keep things dry and prevent animal falls.
At least in Panabá, he said that there are already records of casualties on ranches due to animals that could not endure and small producers who do not have enough resources to feed the livestock.
“It is a hard stage, the fields that used to be green are now brown, we have to wait for the miracle of San Isidro Labrador whose traditional festival is coming soon.”
He says that every year the second week of May is when the rains occur, so they are waiting for those dates in the hope that the complicated situation will be resolved.
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