The farmers of the western Catalan terrritory of Lleida affected by the drought are hoping that the Catalan climate action minister, Teresa Jordà, will specify a specific figure of aid for affected farmers this Friday. The sector met this Thursday in Lleida with the agriculture undersecretary of the Spanish government, Fernando Miranda, in an encounter which followed Madrid's announcement of a new package of drought assistance measures, on which Miranda was able to give them some additional information. The Catalan government, on the other hand, said on Tuesday that it was not possible to specify a figure because it was waiting to see if it rained.
After the meeting, the Lleida president of the farmers' association Asaja, Pere Roque, declared that the visit of Miranda had enabled "some figures" to be put on the table, although, as he said in statements to ElNacional.cat, "it has not been specified what the amount per hectare will be". Determining the amount of aid that each holding will receive has yet to be defined.
Spanish government direct aid totals 636 million euros
On Thursday morning at the Moncloa palace, the Spanish government announced a new package of direct aid for the agricultural and livestock sectors affected by the drought affecting Spain, in which Catalonia is one of the territories most severely affected, including direct aid of over 636 million euros, with a total economic impact of 784 million euros. In Lleida, agriculture undersecretary Fernando Miranda explained to the farmers that this aid will be broken down into livestock, which would take up over 500 million euros of the total, and agriculture, to which 246 million euros would be allocated, and those growers who are being forced to pick unripened fruit and throw it away to save the trees, would clearly be included in this second allocation. Although lacking in specifics, the step taken by the Spanish government was rated positively by Asaja, which draws a contrast with the Catalan government's position so far. "We hope for at least one thing from the Catalan minister tomorrow [at the meeting this Friday at 5 pm in Lleida]: the figure we could be talking about, from the Catalan government".
According to Roqué, the amount of aid that the Spanish government has promised is an initial volume that may gradually increase. "What we have now is an initial figure, which could grow, depending on the scope of the tragedy throughout the state", added the farmers' representative. In the meeting with the Spanish government, the farmers agreed that they will hold a joint follow-up every week to monitor the situation. "We will monitor the loss that is occurring, if, for example, cereals start to be given up as lost, we'll see how many hectares are involved, the volume, and from here, what the impact per hectare is". The same procedure would also be done with fruit. "We have to see how this should be evaluated, through an external or internal expert from the ministry and, from there, submit the applications."
Roqué made a positive assessment of the fact that "there was a figure" on the table while "two weeks ago we were treated as crazy when we demanded direct aid from the Catalan government". "From now on, we have to go little by little, and we are waiting to hear what the Catalan minister will say tomorrow [Friday]", concluded the Asaja president in Lleida.
Trade unions, Afrucat, FCAC and the irrigators' communities of the Canals d'Urgell and Segarra-Garrigues also took part in the meeting.