The problems are piling up in a delta of the Ebro in an already critical situation, without recorded precedents, due to the shortage of fresh water in the rice paddies and the bays and the persistent drought. With the Ebro rice farmers crossing their fingers to be able to complete the cycle of the rice plant and start harvesting the cereal in a few days, a hail has fallen. The meteorological phenomenon, which is rare in this humid area, has caused localized but very serious damage in around 600 hectares of rice fields.
It is too early to accurately quantify the losses caused by the stone that fell on Montsià on Saturday afternoon. The experts of the insurance companies are now assessing the impact of the hail on the ground, with stones the size of hen’s eggs, in some cases almost the size of a fist.
Coincidentally, the most affected area, between Ràpita and the center of Poblenou del Delta (Amposta), in the region of Montsià, is also the one in the most critical situation due to the lack of irrigation water and the increase in salinity in rice paddies. “We could say that it has rained on wet, the zero zone, where there is more stone damage, is where there was already more damage due to problems arising from the drought and salinity”, laments Albert Pons, rice farmer and head of the sector Union of Farmers (UP) rice.
The damage to the 600 hectares of damaged rice fields is irregular. The bomba rice variety, which begins to be harvested earlier and is therefore now the most mature, has been the most affected. In some paddy fields, the entire crop has been lost a few days before harvest, while in others half or more of the rice can be saved. “These are evaluations that are starting to be made now, a quick and urgent appraisal is needed so that the rice can be harvested”, adds Pons. In this way, it will be possible to try to save the part that has not been destroyed by the stone in each farm.
Another obstacle in a delta of the Ebro that has been struggling due to the drought since the spring, with half of the irrigation water since the end of April and with a minimum respite with the few scarce rains in May and in June The number of hectares affected, over 600, is yet another blow to the already damaged morale of a sector, that of rice, fundamental for the Ebrenc territory. More than 20,000 hectares of rice are cultivated there each year, a key part of the local economy. About 300 more hectares of the right hemidelta were already considered lost before the hailstorm due to the lack of irrigation and excessive salinization, in what will almost certainly be the worst rice campaign in history in the delta of the Ebro.
The fresh water that floods the rice fields every year is also essential for the fragile deltaic ecosystem. The flooded rice paddies attract many of the 365 species of birds that pass through one of the most biodiverse wetlands in southern Europe every year. The fresh water that irrigates the rice paddies circulates through the kilometer-long network of canals of the two deltas, to the right and left of the Ebro, until it reaches the mouth. Irrigation water also feeds the bays, one of the key parts of the deltaic biodiversity, in natural enclaves of maximum protection due to their enormous environmental value.
