Both Asaga and the Cumbres de Abona Cooperative are strongly opposed to the expansion of the Malpaís de Rasca nature reserve, recalling that 10% of the region’s grape harvest is produced there.
The winemakers recall that “on January 30 a Bill on the Expansion of the limits of the Special Natural Reserve of Malpaís de la Rasca was registered for urgent processing in the Parliament of the Canary Islands.” “This proposition inexplicably hides the agricultural reality of the area that is intended to be expanded to the northeast. It is in this area that we express our strongest defense, since it directly affects the interests of the 700 winegrowers who are members of this winery”, they add.
Cumbres de Abona insists that “to the northwest the extension affects a total of 94 hectares, on which the current PGO of Arona recognizes, for the most part, the agricultural interest and on which there are already established vineyards in production and in project plantation among other crops”. “It is inexplicable that in the proposed Law the agricultural activity of our partners is ignored, not being able to collect a single mention and, on the contrary, it refers misleadingly to the territory affected by the expansion, describing it as the expansion would integrate, in addition to areas little or not at all altered by anthropic activity, others that have undergone modifications (breakdowns), but which are to a greater or lesser extent in the phase of environmental recovery (ecological succession)”, affirm the winemakers. They remind all the members of the plenary session of the Arona City Council, as well as the deputies of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, that “year after year agricultural land in the municipalities continues to be lost, that there are very few projects that meet the requirements to be economically viable and that they can adapt to the new demands of the EU”.
“From this cooperative society, we feel reality first hand and we know that not only are you putting 10% of Abona’s production at risk, but also the activity of established wineries, with more than 45 direct jobs,” they indicate.
Likewise, the winemakers remark that Cumbres de Abona “wants to help them reconnect with the agricultural reality”, and makes technicians available to them from today with the aim of visiting both the vineyards affected by the expansion of the reserve and others that They are at risk “for reasons that can only be explained by stepping on the territory.”
