SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The vice president of the Association of Livestock and Dairy Industries of the Canary Islands, Omar Viña, warned this Thursday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands that the subsector is “in free fall” to the point that at the end of the year 50% of farms in the archipelago if measures are not taken urgently.
In an appearance before the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Commission, he has indicated that livestock is experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” and is going through the “darkest moments” of its history due to the “disproportionate increase” in the price of raw materials and a increased forage up to 80%.
He has also said that “this is going to get worse, it is unsustainable” and that the livestock subsector is the “most affected” by inflation due to its dependence on food, while he has lamented that they are not being “listened to”.
He has said that “it is sad” to see how families have to leave the countryside or sell their animals in an accelerated trend of disappearance of livestock in the last decade.
Viña has also commented that the indigenous breeds of the islands, which “differentiate” the local product, “are threatened” by foreign competition and although they appreciate the aid from public administrations, they maintain that they do not cover the increase in prices.
As an example, he has indicated that a small farm, with 420 animals, will receive 16,500 euros this year, but its expenses will skyrocket to 48,000 euros. “Where is he going to get the money from?” he wondered.
He has commented that the ranchers want to “live with dignity” but “will and courage are needed” from the Government.
Thus, he has asked the Executive to deploy the food chain law so that they are paid a “fair price” because right now the farmers are working “at a loss”, distribute direct aid “urgently”, reform the REA “immediately” to defend local products from imports and also reform Posei to reduce costs caused by the remoteness of the archipelago.
In fact, he has snapped at the regional deputies that it is up to him to “help save the livestock or bury it.”
The general director of Capisa, Samuel Marrero, has commented that feed manufacturers are not “the enemy” because they want livestock to be a “strong, profitable and capable of development” subsector because “their life is going”.
He has denied that there is a “monopoly” because the company only has three feed factories and there are seven others in the archipelago, although they do represent 50% of the market share, with an annual turnover of 70 million and 250 direct jobs and more of 1,000 indirect.
CAPISA CRITICIZES THE “LACK OF VISION” OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR
He has pointed out that they also have farms in Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura and charged against the “lack of vision” of economic operators and the public sector, the cause, in his opinion, of the “structural problems” of livestock.
Marrero has stated that 25% of the livestock subsector has been lost since 2000 and that, for example, “it is almost impossible” to consume rabbit raised in the Canary Islands.
To deal with this situation, he has appealed to “do things differently” and for this reason he has said that it is “essential to apply the REA well”, that it return to the Ministry of Agriculture and that the REA table “reflects reality” with the presence of farmers and feed manufacturers.
He has also said that he must stop “favoring unfair competition” and “limiting imports”, stressing that “less and less is produced because more is imported”.
Along these lines, he has demanded that the Executive “really” apply the food chain law and organize a well-endowed inspection team to impose “exemplary sanctions.”
He has demanded “quick” public aid because if they wait a year or two they will be “dead” and to the current problems he has added other structural ones such as the lack of land, the difficulty in legalizing farms, waste management and the “lack of interest” for engage in strategic planning.
AGATE: THE WORST MOMENT IN HISTORY
The president of Agate, José Manuel Expósito, has assumed that the current situation of livestock “is the worst” in history due to an increase in costs of up to 70% that has been mitigated in part by the rise in meat prices and eggs but not so with milk, since supermarkets hardly allow increases of between 5% and 8%.
“The supermarket chains set the price or they expel you from the shelf,” he commented, lamenting that a chain, for example, “does not sell cheeses from Tenerife” because it has chosen to launch its own white label with cheeses from other islands.
According to Expósito “it is lawful but not at the cost of removing the cheese from the shelves”, because in the medium term “it puts at risk” the local product because “sooner or later they will tighten” and if they lower the price “they will look for another” let him do it or they will import him.
He has also asked the tourism subsector to “solidarize” with the ranchers since the hotels barely consume 1% of the island’s production.
Regarding the fodder plans, he has indicated that none of them will work “if the bottleneck is not removed” that it is cheaper to bring alfalfa from the Peninsula even though the place is of higher quality, creates landscape and workforce and help reduce the carbon footprint, which is why it has requested an increase in Posei aid.
