“The drought in the south of Tenerife is very serious, we need it to rain, the autumn has been very dry, the galleries are decreasing their flow and there is less and less water,” warns the president of the Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the province Tenerife (ASAGA), Ángela Delgado, who warns of the consequences on potato and vineyard crops: “They would be the most affected if it does not rain, because it would significantly reduce production and, in the case of potatoes, it would affect their size. ”.
This situation coincides with the sowing of “the great harvest of the Canary Islands”, the widespread planting in the Archipelago (between November and February), the harvest of which will take place from April to early July. “At the moment, there is no need to water because everything is sown and you have to wait 15 or 20 days, but if this time of harvest continues, with high temperatures, we will have to start watering the newly planted crop,” Delgado told this newspaper. “The risk is that the campaign” dries up before its time, which will cause that there are not large potatoes but medium ones and to wrinkle. “
The absence of rainfall would also be a very hard blow for the wine sector, which has been experiencing its fourth consecutive year of drought, which will result in a decrease in the amount of grapes that will be harvested in the regulatory councils of the South (Güímar, Abona and La Santiago del Teide de Ycoden-Daute-Isora area).
Farmers and ranchers from the south of the island sigh for the “storms of before”, the fronts that enter from the southwest that are those that soak the entire region. “Lately they haven’t been coming in that direction and only the trade wind refreshes something, but it’s not enough. We need it to rain with a foundation ”, underlined the president of ASAGA.
The consequences of low rainfall are seen in a greater accumulation of water-soluble salts in soils, which in turn causes a lower yield from potato plantations and vineyards.
In this sense, Ángela Delgado gives the example of Vilaflor de Chasna, a municipality in which the potato crop is currently being harvested after planting in July and August. Remember that “it has been watered with a hose and with the water from the Trevejos reservoir [una de las principales fuentes suministradoras de la comarca], which does not have enough quality, which results in the salinization of the soils and a lower production ”. In his opinion, the solution is to raise more water from lower levels and leave the galleries more than a thousand meters high to supply the strip that encompasses the southern canal (which irrigates up to 650 meters) and the high areas. It should be remembered that both the southern channel (between Fasnia and Adeje) and the intermediate north-south channel, which irrigates up to 350 meters of altitude, are the main arteries that wet the southern countryside.
“In the high areas it either rains or water from the galleries is used for urban supply to the municipalities, with which not all the water is destined for agriculture. In addition, many of them go down to the coast, which should be avoided so that the highest plantations are watered, ”Delgado explained.
At the same time, the president of the farmers and ranchers calls for the use of treatment plants and desalination plants at low levels, although she acknowledges that there are still pipes missing. “I do not doubt that in the fairly immediate future in the lower part there will be plenty of water for agriculture, what happens is that it is about the farmers surviving until the moment that surplus water arrives, which will cause their Once prices fall and the profitability of agricultural and livestock farms increases, ”he said.
The drought does not only affect the South. The field also suffers, although to a lesser extent, in the North, where sowing begins in a week in the upper midlands. “Something has rained, it stopped, and now some water has returned, but it is not enough because there is no continuity,” said Angela Delgado.
