The councillor Joan Simonet, accompanied by the directors general Fernando Fernández and Joan Llabrés, met today in Tenerife with the Canary Islands Minister of Agriculture, Narvay Quintero, to share aspects linked to administrative simplification, generational change in the countryside and aid to reduce the cost of inputs, among other issues.

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The Balearic and Canary Islands join forces

The Regional Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, accompanied by the Director General for Agri-food Quality and Local Produce, Joan Llabrés, and the Director General for Agriculture, Fernando Fernández, met today in Tenerife at the headquarters of the Canary Islands Government with the Canary Islands Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty, Narvay Quintero. The meeting, which was also attended by part of Quintero’s team, served to exchange experiences and knowledge linked to the management of the primary sector and to establish the start of a collaboration between the two communities to form a common front to defend the peculiarities of the sector as island territories before the State and the European Union.

Simonet, together with Llabrés and Fernández, travelled to the Canary Islands to learn first-hand about, among other aspects, the Canary Islands government’s policies for promoting differentiated quality products and the projects that promote synergies between the primary and tourism sectors, such as the “Crecer Juntos” (Growing Together) initiative. In this regard, Councillor Simonet stressed that one of the main objectives of this meeting is to share experiences and common problems between the two communities to find joint solutions to improve services in the agricultural and livestock sectors. “When we islanders talk to each other, we understand each other better. We believe that the Balearic and Canary Islands can form a common front for possible claims before the Spanish government and the European Union,” he added.

During the meeting, Simonet explained some of the characteristics of the primary sector in the island territories, such as the limited water and land, transport problems, the small weight of the agricultural sector in terms of total GDP, the need for fair marketing for producers and the small size of farms. In this respect, he insisted that “these particularities require a special approach and differentiated treatment that the Spanish government must take into account in the framework of subsidies”.

Simonet also explained that the meeting analysed the Canary Islands’ projects related to the promotion of agri-foodstuffs and local produce, which, he said, “are an example for the Balearic Islands to follow”. The councillor also stressed the importance of making local products known not only to residents, but also to visitors, and even exporting them.

“It is essential that tourists remember the taste, smell, texture, colour and appearance of our local products. We are committed to ensuring that the benefits of tourism also end up in the primary sector because, apart from being a food producer, it has functions of land conservation, landscape improvement, combating erosion and maintaining native breeds,” he stressed. Simonet also showed interest in the Canary Islands Government’s “Crecer Juntos” (Growing Together) project, which aims to ensure that the benefits of the tourism sector are passed on to the primary sector. This initiative focuses on how tourism can benefit from the functions of land conservation and fire-fighting.

For his part, Minister Narvay Quintero explained that this meeting between the two communities is an opportunity “to exchange opinions and initiatives on which we are working for the benefit of the primary sector, given that due to the insularity and fragmentation of both regions, they share many aspects, hence the importance of cooperating to improve the quality of life and living conditions of professionals in the agricultural sector”. In this regard, he stressed the need for European and state regulations to consider the special features of the island systems to avoid disadvantages, for example, in direct aid to wineries and in the face of drought.

Quintero recalled that both executives are working on simplifying the calls for aid, especially for young people, and referred to the importance of the lines of aid to the sector to compensate for the additional costs of inputs, another of the issues raised at the meeting. Likewise, the scarcity of water resources was another of the issues addressed, since, according to the head of the Canary Islands government, “water production is vital” as “we cannot depend solely on rain-fed agriculture”. Taking up Simonet’s words, Quintero stated that “green agriculture cannot be achieved with a sector in the red. That is why it must be both economically and environmentally profitable”.

The meeting, representing the Canary Islands government, was attended by: the Deputy Minister for the Primary Sector, Eduardo García Cabello; the Director General of Agriculture, Javier Gutiérrez Taño; the Director General of Livestock, Andrés Díaz Matoso; the Director of the Canary Islands Institute of Agri-food Quality (ICCA), Luis Arráez Guadalupe; the CEO of GMR Canarias, Juan Antonio Alonso, and members of the Cabinet of the Canary Islands Ministry.

Before the meeting, Mr Simonet was welcomed by the President of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, and the Vice-President of the Canary Islands Government, Manuel Domínguez.

Visit to the WWTP facilities in the northeast of Tenerife

After the meeting, they visited the facilities of the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in the north-east of Tenerife, in Valle Guerra, accompanied by the Councillor for the Primary Sector and Animal Welfare of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Valentín González; the Councillor for Public Safety and Third Deputy Mayor of La Laguna Town Council, Cristina Ledesma; the Manager of the Island Water Council, Javier Davara Méndez; the Head of the Water Infrastructure Department, Sonia Vega, and the technician from the Directorate General for Agriculture, Juan Antonio Evora. This visit aimed to learn about the use of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation.