SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands will promote a first package of economic measures valued at approximately 10.5 million euros with the aim of mitigating the consequences of the volcanic eruption in the primary sector of La Palma.
The autonomous department will enable ‘minimal’ aid for farmers whose farms are in the direct area of the condition, in the Aridane Valley or in the municipalities of Tijarafe and Fuencaliente, in order to inject liquidity as soon as possible.
The announced aid will compensate for the loss of production in the banana sector, of which currently only 20% collected in the affected area is optimal for marketing.
In this sense, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Alicia Vanoostende, has indicated in a note that “the technical direction of Pevolca is in charge of authorizing cooperatives access to the affected areas to carry out maintenance tasks that guarantee the next harvest. “
In relation to livestock, the Ministry will mobilize ‘minimum’ funds valued at 200,000 euros for the evacuated farms and to adapt the farms that host the animals that have been transferred.
For the fishing sector, the file has already been initiated to grant aid for the compulsory stoppage of the fishing fleet in the port of Tazacorte. The volcano has affected a large part of the fishing grounds of this fishing nucleus, making economic viability impossible due to fishing activity.
For this reason, the Ministry, in coordination with the Ministry, will give an initial aid of 500,000 euros to compensate for the economic damage generated by the activity of the volcano.
At the same time, the necessary studies and evaluations will be carried out to estimate the future impact on fishing resources and, if necessary, a biological shutdown, similar to the one that occurred in El Hierro, may be articulated for a period of 6 or 12 months. for the recovery of marine ecosystems.
The Ministry has asked the General Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Union to maintain the historical reference of the banana farms affected by the lava from the La Palma volcano as well as those affected by the loss of production, so that do not decrease your reference amount.
INITIAL PLAN
In this sense, and given the crisis situation in the sector, it is considered necessary to exempt the obligation to market 70% of its reference quantity to producers in the affected areas, as reflected in the Posei, which would allow the payment of the one hundred percent of the aid.
The regional head of the area has shown that it is “an initial plan to reactivate the island’s agricultural and livestock activities in a crisis situation, which has the commitment and effective coordination of the Government of Spain and the regional Executive” .
Likewise, Vanoostende valued the economic measures promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of 20.8 million for the primary sector of La Palma, which were broken down this Thursday in several telematic meetings of the counselor with Minister Luis Planas.
“The involvement and support of the Ministry with the primary sector of the island is total, and they will contribute the resources that are necessary for the reconstruction of La Palma,” he explained.
