The cooperatives warn that the Government’s aid is insufficient for rice and horticultural crops

2023-08-23 00:31:27

The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia (FCAC) and the Young Farmers and Cattle Breeders of Catalonia (JARC) have issued a statement assessing aid to agricultural holdings due to the drought, although they consider the amounts “insufficient” and they warn of the decline they will cause in the cultivation of rice and horticulture. The two agricultural associations are in fact preparing joint amendments to the draft herbage and vegetable garden order of 2023 united by concern over the exceptional drought episode.

Although they rate “positively” the proposed order of aid intended for agricultural holdings with herbaceous crops and orchards affected by the drought, point out that the amounts and requirements of the Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda department make them “insufficient”. In addition, they warn that “the prioritization of irrigation in favor of woody crops will produce a considerable decrease in the production of rice and herbaceous and horticultural crops in the areas affected by the restrictions derived from the lack of water in several irrigators throughout Catalonia” .

These crops, they emphasize, are in an “extraordinary situation” due, mainly, to closure of the Urgell and Segarra-Garrigues Canals, something exceptional that did not happen in all the 160 years of the Canal’s history (in fact, several irrigation communities have been forced not to offer water to their irrigators throughout the territory). In this sense, they remember that the producers of winter cereal, summer cereal (maize), fodder and horticulture in these canals gave up irrigation to save the fruit trees and now this “solidarity” it should imply that they are fairly “compensated” for the losses they have suffered and thus guarantee the survival of their farms, they point out.

Valuation per plot

With regard specifically to the cultivation of rice, these farmers consider that the damage and the affect they must be assessed by plot in the counties of Baix and Alt Empordà and, especially, in those of the Baix Ebre and Montsià (right bank and left bank of the Ebre) and propose to increase the amount of the module for the sown rice enclosures.

With regard to herbaceous and horticultural crops, they call for “base modules of aid to be adapted to the actual production costs of the crops concerned and for maximum and minimum limits per holding to be removed to ensure that aid covers the maximum of the expenses of agricultural professionals and that the conditions for access are consistent”.