The president of the National Garlic Board and the Coopaman second-tier cooperative, Julio Bacete, warns that due to the heat wave these days, added to the high temperatures of May, the garlic is drying up before time, especially where water is scarce. This advance of more than twenty days in the maturation of the garlic is causing some producers to consider starting the harvest next week. Still, it will translate, in Bacete's opinion, into a reduction in the caliber and, consequently, in the harvest and the producers' income.
Although it is still early to talk about percentages, among other things, because not all plots have been affected in the same way, Bacote recalls that "only with the reduction of one caliber in the size of the bulb, the harvest loss is around 20 %". The president of the National Garlic Board stresses that at this point, there is no possibility of reversing the situation no matter how much the temperatures drop; however, he remarks, "the quality will not be affected."