The start of the Cherry Blossom Festival in the north of Cáceres coincided with the first meteorological setback in the northern regions.
On the night of 20 March, a severe hailstorm hit around 3,500 hectares of cherry trees, mainly in the municipalities of Tornavacas, Cabezuela del Valle, Jerte, Garganta la Olla, Jaraíz and Cuacos de Yuste. However, the real tragedy is that not all producers are insured due to the imposition of Agroseguros conditions, according to the Unión de Extremadura.
The visible damage at the moment consists of a loss of around 5% of the flowering, a loss that will not be very important as the remaining 95% will be able to compensate for the flowers that have fallen due to the hail.
The most important losses are not visible at the moment and will only be able to be assessed in May, once the reaction of the cherry tree to the hail blows has been verified.
In light of these circumstances, the agricultural organisation once again denounces that all the damage caused will be borne by the growers 'given that practically the entire cherry crop has remained uninsured for the umpteenth year due to the deficiencies of cherry insurance in Cáceres and that the Ministry of Agriculture, at the proposal of Agroseguros, has once again tightened it for this season'.
The Union of Extremadura is asking the Ministry of Agriculture, through its body Enesa, to negotiate cherry tree insurance for the province of Cáceres with real coverage and at an affordable price.
"It is very nice to want to celebrate the Cherry Blossom Festival so that all of society can enjoy the spectacle of the northern valleys, white with blossoms, but we must remember that we will only have cherry trees if the harvest is safe and profitable, circumstances that do not exist at the moment," warns the organisation.
For this reason, they will ask the Regional Agriculture Department to convene a meeting of the Regional Agricultural Welfare Board 'so that we can study the problem we have and possible solutions in good time'.
Source: Agroinformacion.com
Image: Agroinformacion.com
13 May 2025
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