SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife has invested more than 6 million euros in the promotion of livestock in the last two years.
This was stated this Friday by the Island Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla, during his appearance before the island plenary session.
“In two years we have captured and executed more budget volume than the previous government group in its four years in office. However, we are aware that the livestock sector is going through a complicated situation and that it is necessary for us to continue taking steps, for this reason our budget proposal for 2023 will exceed 4.22 million euros just for the promotion of livestock, which represents an increase of 35 percent compared to 2022,” he asserted.
The island official emphasized the change in the model implemented by the current government team, “maintaining and redoubling efforts not to subsidize losses, but to boost the sustainability of the productivity of the livestock sector, with the sole objective of giving greater business confidence”. .
According to data from the Registry of Livestock Farms (REGA), both censuses and the number of livestock farms have experienced a recovery in the last two years, except in the rabbit field, collects a note from the Cabildo.
“The heads of goats have increased by 7.48 percent compared to 2019, those of cattle by 9.57 percent, those of pigs by 3.7 percent and the number of hives by more than one 4 percent, data that supports the change in the model in which we have been working,” he said.
Javier Parrilla also assured that the Cabildo de Tenerife “is and will continue to be by the side of the sector, with economic items that had never been put on the table before and working to solve problems that had not been addressed for almost 30 years.”
In this sense, he pointed out that they have held more than 50 meetings, gatherings and debates with livestock associations and groups, “almost one a week if they had been distributed evenly throughout the year.”
Along these lines, he recalled that the Island Government is promoting highly complex measures and solutions at the administrative level, such as the suspension of the slaughter and transport rates of the Tenerife Island Slaughterhouse (MIT) or the start-up of the financial operation so that MIT becomes a public entity.
In this last case, Parrilla assured that “the steps agreed upon and approved unanimously in plenary have been strictly followed, which makes it difficult to understand certain criticisms, the administrative processes are a guarantee that what is carried out has a foundation and continuity Hence, the procedures and times set by the administration must be assumed”.
Regarding the tax exemption, the island official recalled that “it began with the impulse and proposal of this island government” and announced that it already has the mandatory report, which is positive, which will allow transferring to MIT “the item necessary to maintain the economic and financial balance of the entity”.
In short, he said, “these are highly complex legal processes with which we intend to respond to problems that no one had bothered to initiate in 30 years, and I am convinced that time will prove us right in the face of some criticisms that denote a absolute lack of confidence in the capacity of our livestock and agribusiness sector”.
RESILIENT SECTOR
During his speech at the island plenary meeting, Parrilla acknowledged that Tenerife’s livestock is in a “complex” situation and one of “extremely high uncertainty” but “collective efforts are yielding results.”
“The fact that this crisis is attacking the sector and that it is suffering the effects of this war like never before, does not mean that the island’s livestock farming is weak. Quite the contrary. They have resisted and are resisting, with aid, but mainly with their know-how and professionalism,” he said.
In his opinion, “other sectors would have collapsed, but the farmers of Tenerife are showing day by day that this island can trust that they will maintain our food.”
