Due to the drought, guava cultivation is dying; this year a cycle has already been lost

Aguascalientes, the second national producer of guava, has already lost a production cycle of the fruit; If the drought continues, another will suffer the same fate.

With more than two thousand producers and five thousand hectares dedicated to this crop, this municipality will generate between 35 thousand and 40 thousand tons this year, half of the 80 thousand it produces annually.

The guava producing areas are practically stopped, the guavas are alive thanks to the rains of the last few days; However, they did not produce this year,” lamented Miguel Martínez Rubio, state representative of farmers.

Half of the cropland depends on dams and the other half on wells. However, not even irrigation systems prevented the crisis.

The water that comes out of this dam reaches the foot of the tree in a technological way, not a single drop of water is wasted and you can still see how we are doing,” said Martínez Rubio.

Stopped orchards, dry trees that did not produce a single guava and practically dry dams is the panorama observed on a tour.

Given this situation, local producers have to buy guava in other states to meet their export commitments, which are 15 thousand tons per year, mainly to the United States.

GUAVA PRODUCTION COLLAPSES

This municipality, the second most important producer of guava at the national level, is dying, as it has a lost cycle and one that, if it does not rain, will suffer the same fate.

The guava producing areas are practically stopped, the guavas are alive thanks to the rains that have occurred in recent days; However, they did not produce this year,” said Miguel Martínez Rubio, representative of guava producers in Aguascalientes.

There are more than two thousand guava producers in Calvillo and nearly five thousand hectares, of which 50% depends on dams and 50% on deep wells. Annually they produce 80 thousand tons of guava, but due to the drought they have only managed to produce 40 thousand tons.

Around 80 thousand tons were produced annually, but due to the situation we are going to be around 35 to 40 thousand tons,” he stated.

The seven dams that provided water to the guava trees have reached their most critical level due to the lack of rain and they can no longer extract a drop, since what remains is only for the survival of fish and animals.

We can see marks where the spillway reaches the Ordeña Vieja dam, it filled up and poured a lot of water because there was a lot of rain… there was joy among us, which now turns into sadness because it has been two consecutive years that we do not have rain catchment more than completely minimal,” said Refugio Torres Reyes, producer at Calvillo.

Orchards without production, completely dry trees that did not produce a single guava and practically dry dams, this is the panorama in Calvillo.

Right now we should be working on the next cycle, the guava is a fruit of a very long cycle, we need a year to produce guava, the cycle begins in February, with the first heat.”

Not even the technology they have, which means not a single drop of water is wasted, managed to avoid catastrophe.

The water that comes out of this dam reaches the foot of the tree in a technical way, not a single drop of water is wasted and you still see how we are,” said the producer representative.

Guava producers export around 15 thousand tons, mainly to the United States. Given the situation, they had to buy guava in other states to fulfill the commitment.

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Since last year we were no longer able to export, the guava did not acquire the necessary quality for it to be exported, and this year we simply did not produce anything,” said Roberto Hernández Rojas, producer.

There are thousands of families affected by drought and lack of production.

The losses are enormous, but in addition to the losses there is the disintegration of our people, because our sons, daughters, entire families leave for the United States due to lack of employment, I simply always had four to five workers and now I don’t have a single one because There is nothing to do, the harvest was 100% lost, we have absolutely nothing and that is our sadness.”

For producers it is the worst drought crisis they have ever had, which if it rains it would take at least three years to recover the guavas that manage to resist and do not die, if it does not rain it would be the second cycle without production.

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