SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The candidate of the Canarian Coalition to the Congress of Deputies for the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Cristina Valido, has demanded that the Government of Spain implement specific measures for the primary sector of the island of La Palma, “badly hit” after the volcano
The nationalist candidate, who was accompanied by Guadalupe González Taño, also a candidate for Congress, the candidate for the Senate for the island of La Palma, Marcos Lorenzo, and the autonomous deputy Nieves Lady Barreto, assured that agriculture and livestock in the Canary Islands “pass through very difficult times.”
“To the non-compliance by the State Government in the payment of 100% of the subsidy for the transport of goods is added the increase in feed prices, which has caused the cattle herd to be reduced by up to 50%”, added.
“In the specific case of La Palma, these problems of agriculture and livestock are exacerbated because, in addition, there is a lot of farmland that was left under the lava of the volcano and also livestock infrastructures affected by the eruption,” said Valido.
For this reason, he stressed that specific measures are needed for La Palma: “That is why we come in support of its depressed primary sector to call attention to the need for extraordinary aid that La Palma livestock needs to recover infrastructure.”
He also indicated that in agriculture they propose that the stoppage forced by the volcano does not penalize farmers in their production history and that they can thus access aid to recover all their production. “Let’s think that the plantain, without aid, is not viable,” he added.
For the nationalist candidate, it is vital that “those farmers who receive aid in the computation of the production history are not harmed by this stoppage caused by the volcano, for no other reason, because it is essential that the affected palm farmers do not stop receiving the the necessary aid that allows us to return to cultivating and harvesting on the island”.
“Aid is also necessary to recover livestock infrastructures affected by the eruption of the volcano. Because the animals were able to move, but now those infrastructures have to be re-established and no type of aid has been provided to allow this in the time that the farmers they need it,” he said.
