SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Javier Parrilla, has reported this Monday that there has been an upturn in the consumption of local beef and goat meat so far this year, mainly motivated by the high competitiveness of the country’s meats, currently cheaper than imported ones.
Parrilla explains in a note that the large marketers are betting on the acquisition of fresh meat from the island, “not only because of its quality, continuity and freshness, but also because goat and beef meat from the Peninsula are currently more expensive than those from Tenerife “.
Specifically, local beef has an average cost of 5.30 euros per kilo, while the average cost of imported meat is 6.40 euros.
“This is a substantial difference that has caused a greater consumption of meat from the country compared to imported meat in recent months,” he adds.
The island official assures that this rebound is also motivated by the scarcity of meat at a European level, and even states that “the Tenerife Slaughterhouse has received goats from other islands, such as La Palma, Fuerteventura and El Hierro, because the other slaughterhouses they do not guarantee the sacrifice in time”.
The island councilor shows, however, his concern about the fall, by more than 5 percent, in the consumption of rabbit meat, as well as the slight decrease (by almost 2 percent) in the production of pork meat , which breaks with the upward trend registered in the last two years.
Globally, however, the trend remains positive. In fact, the consumption of local meat in Tenerife has increased by 10 percent in the last three years, going from 3,881,403 kilos in 2019 to 4,272,702 in 2021, says the counselor.
Javier Parrilla also assures that it is a moderate increase, which responds to the strategy put in place by the island corporation from the beginning of the mandate, as well as the valorization of fresh meat from Tenerife in the final consumer.
“The world events of the last two years have led to a greater appreciation of the local product, both for its freshness and continuity and for its quality,” he adds.
COMMITMENT TO THE LIVESTOCK SECTOR
In terms of aid, the person in charge of the primary sector recalls that the Cabildo has already paid 1,355,000 euros in direct aid for livestock feeding, and that as soon as this process is completed, a new advance call will be considered with charge to the budgets of 2023.
In total, the island corporation will allocate 3.1 million euros this year to the promotion of livestock. In addition, three other aids to the livestock sector worth 330,000 euros are currently being urgently processed.
“The war in Ukraine and the crisis derived from covid have multiplied the price of feed and electricity, that is why from the Cabildo we have not only increased aid, but also streamlined its processing, because what it is about is that ranchers and ranchers have the aid as soon as possible,” says Parrilla.
The Minister also highlights the creation of the ‘Carnes Frescas de Tenerife’ brand, which has contributed to giving confidence and security to the sector, and whose objective is to improve the identification and quality of local fresh meat products, generate awareness of the value of zero kilometer products and boost the local economy.
In the same way, he highlights the various promotional campaigns for the consumption of meat from the country launched by the island corporation in the last year and a half, and anticipates that work will continue along the same lines.
