The farmers demand immediate aid for the closure of the canals and a “country solution” to avoid “an announced death”

2023-05-25 00:26:22

The demonstration of the agricultural sector of Ponent has arrived in Barcelona with hundreds of farmers affected by the closure of the Urgell canal and the Segarra-Garrigues canal, a month after it was implemented as a restriction to combat the drought. The mobilized have been received by the President of the Government, Pere Aragonès, and by the Minister of Climate Action, Teresa Jordà, to whom they have conveyed the serious consequences of limiting water for crops. Demonstrators demand immediate aid and better water management from administrations in the face of the drought crisis. In addition, they have given a box of apples to the politicians, as a symbol the last ones that were harvested in the fields of Lleida last year.

The agricultural sector demands immediate aid for the closure of the canals and a “country solution” to avoid “announced death”. The spokesperson for the new platform, Jaume Perera, warns that the sector is facing an “announced death” if it does not act quickly. “A country solution is needed”, he explains, noting that the lack of water “is not only a problem in the agricultural sector”, but also involves citizens or industries.

Perera remembers that Catalonia is food self-sufficient, but that if the worst of the drought scenarios are reached and much of the agricultural sector disappears, this will be lost. “We will depend on the food that comes from outside, the multinationals will come and acquire our farms, they will plant what they want and mark the prices that make them hungry, and you will notice it in the supermarket, when you want a loaf of bread or a kilo of fruit” , warns

March from Ponent

The reserves at the limit of the Rialb and Oliana reservoirs and the lack of rains forced this unprecedented measure in the 161-year history of the infrastructure which has left farmers desperate to find alternatives to try to irrigate and save their crops. The effects of the lack of water are already noticeable, especially in alfalfa and fruit trees.

Faced with this situation of uncertainty, the farmers of the region, as well as the representatives of the main unions and agricultural cooperatives created the Gran Urgell Manifesto Platformwho convened this massive demonstration in Barcelona.

Specifically, the farmers left Golmés in a caravan and once they arrived in Barcelona they made their first stop at Plaça Sant Jaume, where the seat of the Government is located. Afterwards, they passed by the headquarters of the European Commission in Passeig de Gràcia. The march wants to vindicate its demands to the Government and also make the population aware of the importance of looking after the agricultural sector. So, the protest also seeks to alert citizens that running out of local fruit or cereal means a considerable increase in food prices, which must be bought in other countries.

For his part, the general director of Afrucat, Manel Simón, has called on society as a whole to get involved in saving water. “It seems that we are only suffering from the drought in the countryside, but if there is no water, there is no water for anyone“, he remarked. Simón recalled that in the area of ​​the Canal d’Urgell, at present, watering is only guaranteed in June. “This does not guarantee the survival of the fruit trees”, he lamented.

In this sense, he pointed out that in this area there is 50% of the production of apples and pears in Catalonia, which represents 70% of all production in the State. “We are not talking about something minor,” he said. According to Simón, if the trees are lost, it will take five years to return to production, and this in cases where the farmers have “the courage and the financing” to start from scratch again. In this time, he warned, there would be a risk that the competition to take advantage of to export to Catalonia and Spain. “Our food sovereignty is at risk,” he concluded.