Government declares agricultural emergency in 14 additional municipalities

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SANTIAGO.-  The minister of Agriculture, Marigen Hornkohl, announced a decision today to declare an additional 14 municipalities located in the Atacama and Bio Bio provinces emergency zones. There are now 209 districts poised to receive extra resources in an effort to relieve complications stemming from the drought currently affecting farmers.

With $571 million pesos being allocated to the newly named municipalities in the Bio Bio Region and $153 million pesos being designated to go to those in Atacama, the total amount of resources being distributed by the Ministry of Agriculture to mitigate water-shortage effects has reached almost $21 billion pesos.

In the Atacama Region, the districts that have been approved to receive beniefits are Vallenar, Freirina, Huasco and Alto del Carmen in the Huasco Province; Copiapó and Tierra Amarilla in the Copiapó Province and Diego de Almagro in the Charañal Province.

Meanwhile, in the Bio Bio Region, all districts belonging to the Arauco Province have been named:  Lebu, Arauco, Curanilahue, Los Alamos, Cañete, Contulmo and Tirúa.