The Agricultural Institute has asked the Government to urgently apply a series of measures to protect the Penedès wine industry, which is half of the sector in Catalonia, due to the effects caused by the drought.
Given this situation, which everything indicates will worsen, more than 20,000 million liters of production and the employment of a group of more than 10,000 people are at risk, according to the agency.
This request comes at a crucial moment for the survival of the sector which, despite recent events, has been experiencing production problems for years, which represents “a serious risk for the continuity and economic viability of many farms and companies in the area.” , as announced by the Agricultural Institute in a statement in which it details eight specific measures that it requests from the Catalan Government.
The business and representative association of the sector requests to meet with the counselor of the Department of Climate Action and Rural Agenda (DACAAR), since almost 3,000 winegrowers and more than 160 wineries, with an area of ??more than 25,000 hectares, are being harmed by the consequences. of the drought.
Firstly, the statement released by the Agricultural Institute requests urgent authorization of the drought aid corresponding to the previous campaign.
Secondly, they want to simplify the application and collection procedures by enabling an automatic payment associated with all vintage drawers. Likewise, streamline the administrative procedures for requesting global contract aid for the exploitation of Competitiveness and Agrarian Diversification, matching them in documentation for climate change mitigation aid.
On the other hand, they ask for extraordinary help for the replanting of failures for the coming years, taking into account the probable increase in mortality of the strains of many farms. Or, in any case, enable this possibility within the framework of the vineyard restructuring plans without incorporating a minimum surface area.
Likewise, they request the establishment of liquidity and guarantee lines for wine companies affected by the decrease in both production and grape entry. They also require maintenance of punctual survival irrigation as a safeguard for existing plantations, through tanks from wells enabled for this purpose, without influencing the local supply of the population.
Finally, the Agricultural Institute asks DACAAR and the Catalan Water Agency (ACA) to implement mechanisms to facilitate the opening of wells aimed at alleviating the situation of extreme drought in the territory. In addition, they ask to carry out studies and authorize the deployment of infrastructure for the use of regenerated water or other valid water resources for vineyard cultivation.