“In Morocco they pay 10 euros per working day and here 10 euros per hour.” With this example, German Domínguez, from Unió de Pagesos del Baix Llobregat, explained this Tuesday one of the main complaints (the “unfair” competition from third countries) that led them this Tuesday to block access to Mercabarna and the Port of Tarragona. “In Morocco they use phytosanitary products that are prohibited in Spain,” he added.
Unió de Pagesos demanded “reciprocity in commercial relations on the use of phytosanitary products, medicines and veterinary measures, and environmental conditions.” The organization warned that the lack of control over imported products has caused the entry of invasive species.
This Tuesday’s protest in Catalonia was the prelude to a new day of strikes scheduled for today in half of Spain. The requests of the Catalan farmers were collected by the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, in a letter that he sent to the president Pedro Sánchez. In the letter he warns that “the cost structure of the sector questions the viability of many agricultural and livestock farms in Catalonia.”
Aragonès maintains that there are measures that can be taken immediately, such as reducing bureaucracy and paperwork, or a “moratorium on the application of phytosanitary products.” The president claimed that a minimum price must be “ensured for farmers and ranchers.”
Precisely today, a meeting of the Food Chain Observatory at the Ministry of Agriculture is scheduled in Madrid, where it will be analyzed whether product prices reflect the real costs borne by farmers. “We have to see what solutions are applied to avoid sales at a loss,” farmer sources said on Tuesday. The meeting, which will take place in the afternoon, was to be chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, although sources from the agricultural unions believe that the meeting will end up being of a technical nature with the department’s team. Not only farmers but representatives of the agri-food industry and supermarkets and distributors come to the Observatory.
Although farmer sources are more confident in Thursday’s meeting with Minister Planas, where Sánchez’s Executive should put concrete and immediate proposals on the table. The most representative agricultural organizations will attend the meeting: Asaja, COAG and UPA. “We trust that they will respond to our requests,” said COAG sources.
Among the protests planned for tomorrow, those that will take place in the Mercamadrid food market, in the Spanish capital, and in a dozen Spanish provinces stand out.
In Tarragona, this Tuesday’s protest was a resounding success, without many precedents in the mobilizations of farmers in the southern regions of Catalonia. Up to 500 tractors arrived from all over the province to the access to the port of Tarragona with the idea of ??spending the night and making the protest last. “If we want to fight we must endure and be resistant,” highlighted Eduard Escolà, from the Pagesa Platform, during the assembly. It was agreed to make the cut at the entrance and exit of the port last for 36 hours. The mobilization, an initiative of Unió de Pagesos, received the support of the Pagesa Platform in Tarragona, the same entity that led the drive to Barcelona last week. “Let no one doubt that we have always been fighting for our rights and demands,” said Pere Guinovart, historical leader of UP in Tarragona. “80% of the tractors that have come are at the initiative of the Platform,” said Escolà.
In the afternoon, hundreds of farmers moved from the port entrances to make several cuts in the Francolí industrial estate and a section of the N-340.
