The Council of Tenerife has granted a grant to 61 farmers on the island to encourage the practice of crop rotation.
The objective is to help maintain the agronomic quality of the soil, control pests and promote the conservation of agricultural biodiversity, favoring local varieties.
The island councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla, recalls in a note that “the rotation and intercalation of crops contributes to reducing the use of fertilizers, phytosanitary products and chemical products, which facilitates the control of pests such as the Guatemalan moth, creating natural barriers and lowering incidences of damage”.
The grant is endowed with 69,500 euros and each farmer will receive 1,000 euros per hectare planted, with a maximum of 3,000 euros per beneficiary.
According to Parrilla, it is about promoting crop rotation in Tenerife, “whether in an annual potato-cereal, potato-legume or cereal-legume rotation system, improving the island’s self-sufficiency capacity.”
On the occasion of ‘World Agriculture Day’, which is celebrated every September 9, Parrilla highlights the need to continue promoting actions to expand the island’s cultivated area and promote sales and consumption of local products.
In this sense, remember that the island corporation has launched aid for the promotion and improvement of the marketing of local agri-food products destined for the internal market, for a total amount of 98,810 euros.
At the same time, this year 48,730 euros will be allocated to the recovery and cultivation of abandoned land.
CULTIVATED AREA IN TENERIFE
According to the crop map of 2021, Tenerife has increased its cultivated area by more than 1,100 hectares.
“Between 2007 and 2019 the island registered a decrease of 7,000 hectares, but little by little, thanks to the efforts of this government group, we have begun to recover,” explains Javier Parrilla.
The results of the report also reflect a significant reduction in the area without cultivation (abandoned), which responds to the increase in crops linked to orchards and fruit trees, as well as the entry into cultivation of old wastelands.
