Colombian farmers have suffered this week after a severe drought destroyed crops in more than 20 municipalities around the capital city of Bogota.
“We lost everything, chard, lettuce and spinach, we had to give it to horses as food,” a vegetable farmer told local media after his crops woke up to heavy frost and burned under the harsh midday sun.
Secretary of Agriculture, Gonzalo Gutierrez, told reporters that 23 municipalities around Bogota have been affected. Some 54,000 acres of crops and 47,000 acres of livestock vegetation are supposedly in distress.
Market prices could increase for beef, poultry, pork and dairy in light of a decrease in animals’ muscle mass and milk production, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
A heat wave scorched hundreds of acres earlier this month prompting Colombia’s director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management to guard against potentially high-impact drought conditions through the month of February.
BACKGROUND: Colombia officials fear burnt February after heat wave break out
In response to the drought, the Ministry of Agriculture has ordered a fleet of 40 tankers to meet farmers’ water shortages.
