SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Javier Parrilla, has initialed the call for aid for the preservation and improvement of native livestock breeds.
A total of 30,000 euros will be used to cover the operating expenses derived from the monitoring of the genealogical books and the control of the genotypes of the different breeds.
Parrilla affirms in a note that “the agricultural biodiversity of islands is one of the determining values in the definition of identity, a fact that can contribute to preserving and enhancing the products that are more adapted to the conditions of local agrosystems, that is, those varieties and races that have been conserved by the local population over time. Canariety is ultimately diversity “.
The procedure for granting these subsidies will be carried out through non-competitive competition, distributing the maximum global amount available among all the applicant breeder associations that meet the requirements.
“We seek the best and most agile administrative procedure within the competition, avoiding as much as possible nominative subsidies”, says the counselor.
In the same way, he explained that “a part of the available money approved in the call will be distributed in equal parts among all the associations that are presented, while the remaining amount will be distributed proportionally among said associations based on the number of farms and Units of Greater Cattle (UGM) that each association has “, in such a way that there will be proportionality and ease for each group.
The scientific reports on which this line of work is based indicates that in recent decades, worldwide, many indigenous livestock breeds have been endangered, even leading to the disappearance of some of them, mainly due to the introduction of breeds. foreign companies that offer higher productions.
Such is the case in the Canary Islands of the black pig or the coarse cow and the palm tree. “Canariety is definitely diversity, he emphasizes.
The counselor explains that “production levels must be taken into account, but it must also be appreciated that native breeds have characteristics of resistance and rusticity that give them great capacity to adapt to our environment, resistance to diseases and that cover consumer demands for quality products “.
In addition, he explains, he adds that “they are the result of production systems that respect the environment and animal welfare.”
The counselor specifies the Cabildo’s clear support for agrarian diversity.
In fact, it clarifies that such the importance of autochthonous breeds, which contribute to rural development, promote the fixation of the population in rural areas and, ultimately, are essential for the sustainable development of the livestock sector, so that “all measures that they are adopted in favor of the wealth of our natural environment are necessary “.
