The Chilean minister of agriculture has said the 2012-13 season will be tough because of a lack of water.
Minister of agriculture Luis Mayol said: “We will have quite a difficult season throughout the country with approximately 23 per cent less water for irrigation if we compare the levels in reservoirs now with this time last year, which was also affected by drought. To that we have to add less snow in the mountains this year - about 30 to 50 per cent less than in a normal year.”
Chile has a network of water users' organisations that help mitigate the effects of a shortfall and administer scare resources where they are needed.
Mayol’s ministry has also invested heavily in 14 different programmes with a value of 6bn pesos (£7.83 million) run by the national irrigation commission to improve water availability in the short, medium and long term.
