In the Penedès there are already those who think that the consequences of the current drought could be as serious as the historic phylloxera that devastated the vineyards at the end of the 19th century. The lack of rain and the high temperatures of recent days, which cause the little existing water to evaporate more quickly, could wipe out a third of all the Penedès vineyards. The sector’s cry of warning is unanimous in the face of this extremely serious situation and the Government is asked to urgently deliver the necessary water to save some part of the crops. The situation in Penedès is serious because it occurs after three years of lower production due to this continued lack of water.
The Generalitat promised to provide aid worth 20 million euros specifically for the vineyards, but the lack of budget processing now leaves many of these items up in the air. The electoral advance in Catalonia is not good news for Penedès, which has seen in recent years how industrial estates have multiplied in areas that should have been allocated for agricultural use.
The Penedès is one of the few areas of the Iberian Peninsula where a dryland viticulture technique has been practiced, which only required a continuous regime of sufficient rainfall for the grapes to ripen correctly. The drama is when this rainfall has disappeared and the traditional way of cultivating vines has been broken. The sector had already been working on the idea of ????looking for alternatives for irrigation for some time, but no one could imagine that a rainfall rate as low as this year would be recorded. From a possible danger it has turned into a real nightmare.
In the coming weeks we are going to experience very exceptional circumstances. On the one hand, economic sectors overwhelmed by the consequences of the drought and, on the other, the political class activated in a long campaign to see who wins the 12-M. However, the drought is going to play a major role in these elections.
