GÜÍMAR (TENERIFE), Aug. 31 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, stated this Thursday that negotiations are being held with the Government Delegation and the central Government to enable the importation of potatoes from other territories of the United Kingdom in which it is not present the ‘potato beetle’, such as Northern Ireland or Wales, an important action for the entry into the Canary archipelago of the consumer potato but especially for the seed potato, “which arrives in the Canary Islands at these dates and which proceeds in mostly from these areas.
However, they have made it clear that they do not want the 1987 law that “protects” the Canary Islands from the entry of pests into crops to be repealed, “because this would represent a health and also an economic problem”, and has stated that the ban on imports English potato should serve to “reflect” on the defense of local productions.
Quintero explained the situation to journalists during a visit to the facilities of the Izaña Agrarian Transformation Society (SAT), in the municipality of Güímar, in the company of the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, who has opted to support and increase local production as a measure to reduce the external dependence of the archipelago.
Thus, he explained that in this legislature, the Executive has the objective of focusing on the primary sector, “an absolutely strategic activity” and recognized that it is a complicated time for farmers and ranchers, which is why they will work on concrete measures and provide aid to Canarian producers.
“In the Canary Islands there is a lot of technology, talent, economic investment and effort, and we produce quality food, which contaminates less than food from outside and meets all quality conditions and health guarantees, which is why administrations and consumers must support and protect the local product,” he said in a note sent by the Executive.
For his part, the president of the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations of the Canary Islands (COAG), Rafael Hernández, defended that “local production in the Canary Islands is more necessary than ever to achieve a reasonable level of food sovereignty.”
To this end, he insisted on the importance of “continuing to increase kilometer zero production to be able to cover food needs without depending so much on foreign trade, which has an impact on consumers and producers.”
Hernández assured that he is convinced that “in this legislature steps will be taken to move towards food sovereignty and improve agriculture, livestock and fishing, thanks to the agrarian vision of the current Canary Islands Executive.”
SAT IZAÑA: “THE SECTOR IS HAVING A BAD TIME”
The president of SAT Izaña, Roberto Rodríguez, acknowledged that the sector “is having a hard time both due to competition from imports and the detection of new pests.”
“We are not going to allow the Law of 87 to be repealed because otherwise all agricultural operations in the Canary Islands will have to be closed,” he indicated, while ensuring that “pests enter through imported containers, which is why controls are required.” exhaustive phytosanitary products” by the State.
The visit took place through the zucchini, pumpkin, strawberry and lettuce plantations, in addition to the packaging of this producer organization, a benchmark in the production and marketing of fruits and vegetables, which is more than 40 years old. In addition, it is the main strawberry producing company in the archipelago with a production of about 600 tons per year.
During the meeting, the president of the Canary Islands recognized the work of the founder and president of this producer organization, Roberto Rodríguez, “an innovative man with a life dedicated to agricultural activity and the use of water, who constitutes an example for many young entrepreneurs in the sector and whose legacy will soon be passed on to his son and grandchildren”.
In his opinion, “the owner of the farm is an example of tenacity and effort, at 80 years old he continues to work and get up to maintain around 300 jobs and supply kilometer zero production to the Canarian market.”
