Eleven days after the ‘cold drop’ that devastated part of the province of Valencia, the combined agricultural insurance entity Agroseguro has raised the affected crop hectares to 25,000.
If the first figures indicated that 20,000 hectares were damaged by this historic phenomenon, mainly persimmons, citrus fruits and vegetables, with the passing of the days, the entry of the reports and the work in the field, this figure has risen to 25,000.
There are 10,000 affected farmers in 50,000 plots and the volume of affected production amounts to 650 million kilos, according to Agroseguro data.
The capital insured in these areas is 250 million, but experts have not yet made a provisional assessment of the planned compensation.
The director of Agroseguro, Sergio de Andrés, has traveled to the affected area to learn about the work of the technicians on the ground and has visited an orange farm in the municipality of Algemesí (Valencia).
In statements to Efeagro, De Andrés has insisted on the provisional nature of some figures in an area with an “important” level of insurance.
He stated that, until yesterday, Agroseguro had received 2,016 claims from farmers and ranchers in Valencia, affected by rain, flood, hail, wind, damage to plantations or facilities.
Of the total, he highlighted that almost 3,500 hectares of damage correspond to citrus farms and another 2,400 hectares to persimmon, mainly in the regions of Hoya de Buñol and Riberas del Júcar, according to Agroseguro data.
The rest correspond to vineyards – with more than 1,200 hectares damaged in Requena-Utiel – and horticultural productions.
As has happened since the first day, Agroseguro has highlighted that, although it always insists on the importance of sending the loss reports as soon as possible to plan the expert assessment work, in this case it is understood that they are arriving little by little due to the situation in the province.
For now, around a third of the claims on the planned surface have been received and it is expected that in 10 or 15 days most of them may be there, although this is an extreme that also depends on the situation of the crops.
Regarding the device, the current deployment is 40 professionals and will be reinforced starting Monday with another 30 experts from Catalonia, Aragon, and Castilla-La Mancha, as well as a dozen Agroseguro professionals.
Sergio de Andrés has reiterated “his total solidarity and empathy with Valencia”, and his commitment to process the claims and pay compensation in the “shortest possible time”, to help Valencian farmers and ranchers.
Agricultural accidents in 2024
So far this year and throughout the national territory there were 563 million expected in compensation.
The lack of water and, on the other hand, atmospheric episodes such as hail, frost and wind storms are behind this damage in the countryside so far in 2024, which is experiencing one of the years with the highest accident rate in recent years. exercises.
However, until now the worrying record numbers that were experienced in 2023 had not been reached, when farmers and ranchers suffered serious losses due to lack of water.
Until September and therefore without counting the data from October and the ‘cold drop’, Agroseguro has registered 1,204,298 accidents throughout Spain, which have affected 1,526,610 hectares; It represents a drop of 53% in surface area and 8% in the number of cases resolved.
In terms of compensation, they have been 49% lower than last year and, for the most part, related to the agricultural sector.
