The Chilean government declared on Thursday a state of agriculture emergency in the regions of Valparaiso, O'Higgins, Maule, Bio Bio, La Araucania and Metropolitana, due to the devastating earthquake that shook the central and southern parts of the country on Saturday.

Agriculture Minister Marigen Hornkohl said the government took the decision on Thursday after having the first reports of the situations of the disaster regions.

The decision aimed to provide concrete aids to the peasants to minimize the impact of the earthquake and to facilitate the relief measures in the affected regions, Hornkohl said.

Among the aids, the government will issue emergency coupons worth a maximum 150,000 Chilean pesos (some 300 U.S. dollars) to each peasant to help farmers restore agricultural production.

The peasants will also receive additional coupons to repair or rehabilitate their watering and drainage systems.

Once the authorities have more information about the damages, other emergency measures would be adopted to reconstruct the agricultural systems.