The Government has not approved measures against the drought since March and the countryside cries out for "urgent" aid to survive

• Drought Spain is facing a serious drought in its most suffocating summer: "We continue to waste water as if we had left over"

The Government does not establish new shock measures against the serious effects of the drought in the Spanish countryside since last March 4.

-practically not a drop of water has fallen since then- so farmers, ranchers, irrigators and autonomous communities clamor for the approval of new aid and improvements in financing.

The agricultural sector considers that the situation is "dramatic" and is leading to the

-two dairy farms as a daily average in Spain-, slaughter of cattle heads and losses that are estimated at 8,000 million euros and the destruction of agricultural employment by 14.5%.

In this context, to which we must add the crisis of prices and inflation of raw materials, it was expected that the Technical Table for Monitoring the Drought that the

had convened for this Monday would take new measures in the face of such a delicate situation, but the disappointment was practically unanimous.

The fact that the minister of the branch,

, did not preside over it, already lowered initial expectations - he delegated to an undersecretary - and, according to all the sources consulted who attended the meeting, which was organized electronically, it was "very technical and without any specifics ".

The Andalusian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development,

, was "disappointed" at the end of the meeting when she understood that it was only a "monitoring" commission with information on already approved measures, for which she urged the Government to take further action.

"We ask for commitment, urgent actions now," stressed the counselor, who among other issues requests a double electricity rate for irrigators, application of European funds, lowering VAT on supplies or increasing the discount on desalinated water.

MORE SOLUTIONS

The agrarian organizations also showed their complaint.

"It has not served for anything", they highlighted in

.

Its national president,

, criticized that "solutions and not analysis" are needed to deal with the consequences of the drought, for which he criticized that "the problems that are being experienced deserve a little more level in the meeting", criticizing in this way that the meeting "has been telematic" and chaired "by a deputy director general".

"I am going to bite my tongue because the problems of the field have to be taken on a more solid table," he insisted.

Barato demanded solutions because the analysis of the situation "is already done."

Among the repercussions, he cited "35% less cereal production; the forced sacrifice of 15 or 17 percent of animals due to cost increases; losses in the vineyard of more than 27 percent or a forecast of harvesting half olives"

The agrarian organization

stressed that "unfortunately no conclusions have been drawn that are worthwhile given the serious situation we are going through," according to the spokesman for its executive,

, who asked for direct aid to those affected and new lines of financing.

Along the same lines, he demanded that Minister Planas take charge of the crisis and design "a battery of very forceful measures" to save producers "from different sectors" who are going to have a very bad time."

Góngora highlighted that the water stored in some areas is below 20% of its capacity, which is why there have already been restrictions on irrigation, which has caused some crops, such as horticultural crops, to face a sharp reduction in surface area. up to 20%.

In addition to the problems in rainfed areas, COAG expressed concern about livestock, which is experiencing an "exceptional situation", and has called for "specific support" for this activity.

IRRIGATION

The general secretary of

(National Federation of Irrigation Communities of Spain),

, called on the Government to allocate more funds to the modernization of irrigation to culminate with the transformation of the 800,000 hectares that are still pending throughout the country. and expand irrigation in all hydraulic basins.

In his opinion, "reservoirs play a fundamental role in a country like Spain -with the irregularities that it presents in terms of water both in time and in space- so there is no other remedy than to regulate water to meet the demands and there the reservoirs are fundamental".

He also advocated approving a change in rate power during the year for irrigation communities - "a measure that has already been approved by law and that only requires regulatory development by the Government" -, together with other measures, such as establishing a ceiling and a cost limit for desalinated water to make the use of this resource viable for irrigation.

GOVERNMENT

Despite the criticism, the Government continues to defend the measures it adopted last March and "which are still in force to combat the drought in the countryside" so it sees no need, for the time being, to process any more: "The lines that must be followed based on the monitoring reports of the situation presented by the participants," Agriculture said in a statement, where it recalled that producers who pay taxes through the module system have been able to benefit from a 20% reduction in the estimate of the same for the declaration of the (IRPF) of 2021.

In addition, he recalled that other fiscal measures remain in force, such as reductions at the national level in livestock and vineyards, as well as reductions in the rates applicable to livestock activities that feed livestock with feed and other food products acquired from third parties and of the index applicable to crops on irrigated land that use electricity, among others.

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