About thirty tractors that arrived from different parts of Camp de Tarragona occupied the Imperial Tarraco square in Tarragona this Thursday to demand better water management.
In two different columns, the farmers arrived in the city center at half past nine in the morning and settled there with the intention of spending the day.
During the day, political representatives are expected to sign the manifesto with Revolta Pagesa’s demands. Junts and the CUP have already signed it. As Ramon Rojo, spokesperson for Revolta Pagesa, has indicated, PSC and Comuns have expressed disagreement on some of the points and will not adhere, while PP and Ciutadans have not responded to the offer.
Finally, and despite the commitment that Revolta Pagesa had assured that it had with ERC, the Republicans have adhered to the Unió de Pagesos manifesto, which is not present in this Thursday’s mobilization. They also passed through Plaza Imperial to sign the Convergents i Aliança Catalana manifesto.
Revolta Pagesa has prepared another document in which the parties are asked for social “recognition” of farmers and to “ensure food sovereignty based on local products”, among others. This document has been signed by PSC and ERC, in addition to CUP, Junts and Convergents.
Ramon Rojo, spokesperson for Revolta Pagesa in Camp de Tarragona, has pointed out that among the eleven measures proposed, the most “urgent” is to “advance the planned works” to improve the hydraulic infrastructure of the region through “emergency” means. to be able to guarantee support irrigation, especially in the vineyard and woody crops.
“If we don’t have water we can’t produce food; If we do not produce food, prices rise and we are left without farmers and without food sovereignty,” he reasoned.
Rojo has stated that the infrastructure was built half a century ago and since then “the population, tourism, and industry have increased and it rains less,” so the situation is critical for the peasantry.
The spokesperson has estimated at 12,000 hectares near the four Camp de Tarragona reservoirs that lack water – Siurana, Riudecanyes, Margalef and Guiamets – and that cannot be irrigated. In addition, he has warned of the problem of using water from aquifers if it does not rain, because they can be emptied and salinized. In fact, in some parts of the Baix Camp it has already started to happen.
Finally, from the platform they have also claimed to have a presence in the meetings of the Catalan Water Agency. “We use between 70% and 80% of Catalonia’s water and we do not have representation on the boards. “It doesn’t make sense,” he stated.
