The president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), has highlighted what he considers advances for bananas in the year that is now ending, and has reviewed the challenges that this agricultural subsector is facing. The fact is that although "the production in the Archipelago and on the island of Gran Canaria has increased over the last three years, this season there has been a 6% reduction in the shipments to the Peninsula in the first nine months of the year."
Clavijo made these statements last Friday during an event held at the Llanos de Sardina Agricultural Cooperative, in the Gran Canarian municipality of Gáldar, where he was accompanied by the Vice President of the Government, Pablo Rodríguez; the Councilor of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Water, Narvay Quintero, and the Deputy Councillor of the Primary Sector, Abel Morales.
While at the headquarters of the aforementioned producers' organization, the latest to join the Association of Banana Producer Organizations of the Canary Islands (Asprocan), the Canary president recalled that this year, the subsector has achieved a milestone, as it has managed to start receiving the state aid to transport, which applies retroactively from January 1, 2017. It is "a success of the coordinated work between the sector and the political parties, which have spoken for it in Madrid in recent years."
Clavijo also said that the proposal of the European Commission to reduce the Posei direct aid by 3.9% over the next seven year budget (2021-27), the entry of bananas from third countries exceeding the maximum thresholds and the lack of vigilance and control over the price variations that this excessive supply is causing in the peninsular market "have made it necessary for the sector to demonstrate its dynamism. Therefore, in coordination with the Canary Government, it is making it clear in Madrid and Brussels that the producers of the islands and the rest of the OR's are united and have enough strength to apply the necessary measures."
Furthermore, the president, who was given a tribute together with Narvay Quintero by the heads of that producers' organization, considers 2018 "a good year in which we have managed to introduce an Economic and Fiscal Regime (REF) with a strong focus on agriculture into the local legislation."
Source: eldiario.es