Brazilian Farmers Livelihoods Threatened by Deadly Floods
- 13 years ago
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Many Farmers in Rio de Janeiro are struggling to salvage their crops and rescue their livestock after floods and mudslides have devastated thousands of acres of their farmland. Efforts are underway to ease their financial burden.
Last week devastating floods and landslides in Brazil's key agricultural area, the southeastern Serrana region, caused 700 fatalities and the destruction of thousands of acres of crops and farm land.
In Nova Friburgo and neighboring towns, thousands of farmers are striving to salvage what little is left in their fields.
Idemir de Souza, a 53-year-old organic vegetable farmer says he has lost two-thirds of his crops.
[Idemir de Souza, Farmer]:
"(I had) Fifteen thousand plants, but only four or five thousand will remain, because there's too much water here and when the sun heats up they die out and the mudslides also destroyed many of them. What is left are those tomatoes over there, where there are 5,000 plants and I hope to recover those."
Lauzira da Viga and her family on a nearby farm say they have never experienced floods of this magnitude during three decades of living off their vegetables and livestock.
They worry about not being able to repay their government loan in February.
A major fruit and vegetable market whose stocks have fallen by more than 60 percent over the past few days has become the center for receiving donations for flood and mudslide victims.
Ronaldo Perez the market's manager says that most farmers have had very little produce to deliver.
[Ronaldo Perez, Market Manager]:
"Some (farmers) are still bringing in products, but with great difficulty because there were great losses and many roads are completely destroyed. The lack of supplies in big cities and other towns in the region has become evident. Prices also increased a lot because of this."
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Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision
Many Farmers in Rio de Janeiro are struggling to salvage their crops and rescue their livestock after floods and mudslides have devastated thousands of acres of their farmland. Efforts are underway to ease their financial burden.
Last week devastating floods and landslides in Brazil's key agricultural area, the southeastern Serrana region, caused 700 fatalities and the destruction of thousands of acres of crops and farm land.
In Nova Friburgo and neighboring towns, thousands of farmers are striving to salvage what little is left in their fields.
Idemir de Souza, a 53-year-old organic vegetable farmer says he has lost two-thirds of his crops.
[Idemir de Souza, Farmer]:
"(I had) Fifteen thousand plants, but only four or five thousand will remain, because there's too much water here and when the sun heats up they die out and the mudslides also destroyed many of them. What is left are those tomatoes over there, where there are 5,000 plants and I hope to recover those."
Lauzira da Viga and her family on a nearby farm say they have never experienced floods of this magnitude during three decades of living off their vegetables and livestock.
They worry about not being able to repay their government loan in February.
A major fruit and vegetable market whose stocks have fallen by more than 60 percent over the past few days has become the center for receiving donations for flood and mudslide victims.
Ronaldo Perez the market's manager says that most farmers have had very little produce to deliver.
[Ronaldo Perez, Market Manager]:
"Some (farmers) are still bringing in products, but with great difficulty because there were great losses and many roads are completely destroyed. The lack of supplies in big cities and other towns in the region has become evident. Prices also increased a lot because of this."