Uruguay will declare the agricultural emergency due to drought in the south of the country

The Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay, Carlos María Uriarte, will sign on Monday a document declaring the agricultural emergency due to the drought that especially affects the south of the country.

This was stated during a press conference by the vice minister of the portfolio, Juan Ignacio Buffa, who stressed that there are 500,000 hectares of field affected in the departments of Montevideo and in the southern Canelones, San José, Lavalleja and Maldonado.

"The focus of this agricultural emergency will be mainly on family producers, which is a group that has been prioritized in the landing of public policies, and we will also extend that definition to small producers who are really the ones who are going through more complicated situations, "he said.

Buffa explained that this process will activate "a series of mechanisms" to generate support for about 8 million dollars.

"With that money, some direct support measures will be implemented for the producer and some others that we are working hard to translate into some tools associated more than anything with the credit aspects," he said.

He pointed out that it will seek to "extend a little direct aid," because the reality is "very complex" and producers need "other types of solutions."

In addition, the deputy minister stressed that the producers benefited will be about 5,400 and that the Ministry is already preparing to receive requests for help.

Finally, Buffa said that this problem led him to travel part of the affected area, where he found the effects on livestock, crops and fodder production.

According to a report published by the Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology (Inumet), in December, January and February the accumulated rainfall was below normal in almost all the Uruguayan territory and even in some areas it was "much smaller" than it usually rains .