The northern Chilean region of Coquimbo has suffered greatly from drought in recent years, but rains this year - including earlier this week - have alleviated the situation somewhat for growers.

The region's three provinces of Elqui, Limarí and Choapa have accumulated three meters (9.8 feet) of snow in the mountains in the year to date.

Regional Agriculture Deputy Andrés Chiang gave www.freshfruitportal.com his perspsective on what this might mean for the region, which is known particularly for its citrus fruit, table grapes, pisco grapes and tomatoes.

"These recent rains in general are auspicious. Effectively they are bringing about better conditions both in the region's accumulation systems and the accumulated snow," Chiang said.

"They have concentrated in the southern zone of the Choapa province, from the mountains to the sea, and in the whole province the accumulation values are much higher than in a normal year," he said, in reference specifically to rains since April.

Historically the Illapel area receives 125mm (4.9in) in a given year, but just in the year to date it has already received 167mm (6.557in).

Unfortunately this hasn't happened in Limari or Elqui, but the rains in general have concentrated on the mountain area disproportionately for obvious reasons.

He said the three meter depth of snowfall acts as a "natural reserve", while in reserovoirs themselves have reached 50% of their capacity.

"We note that in the 2015-16 fruit-growing season there was a recovery in the productive capacity of the region. The figures registered show there was an increase in exports compared to the 2014-15 season."

The rains might be good news, but Chiang warned they were often followed by frosts and growers needed to be alert in order to protect their crops.

"Fortunately, there hasn't been frosts, and we are calling on our network of beneficiaries to prevent [damages] in case they happen," he said.

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