Posts Tagged 'Andalusian'

On a motion by Councilman Agriculture, Jorge Visors, criteria based on social, environmental and economic.

EL EJIDO .- The Government of El Ejido (Almeria party, PAL), through its council of Agriculture and Environment Jorge Visors motion presented tomorrow at the session held by the Municipal Corporation, which calls for the support of opposition political groups (PSOE and PP) for agriculture and Spanish Almeria are declared "strategic" by the Government of Andalusia and Spain's government.

The motion

- Given the importance of environmentally our agricultural system, it has achieved in less than a century to turn an area that was described as a desert into a garden of vegetables and ornamentals. Suffice it as an example what the great British writer Gerald Brenan and Hispanist (1894-1987), wrote in his famous book "Al sur de Granada" on their impressions of the Campo de Dalias when, in one of his trips to our province, visited our region for the first time in 1920, long before it appeared therefore greenhouse cultivation in our area:

"The vision he offered me was very depressing. For about fifteen miles the road ran in a perfectly straight line through a stony desert, no one could see not a single house or a tree on the road as far as covering my eyes. The road came and went in small whitish undulating land between the desert until it met the horizon. This desert is known as the Campo de Dalias. It is a delta of stones and rubble, pushed along eight miles out to sea by the erosion of the Sierra de Gador, descending to him gently. (...) When I first saw what could be the Sinai Desert. As he dragged my feet along the enervating atmosphere of the coast, the iron curtain of the mountains shone monotonically to my left and wished in vain to find a shop where a drink. "

Among the aspects that make our current production system in a distinctly positive element for the environment, include the following:

I) Mitigation of the global warming of the planet. According to recent studies by researchers at the University of Almeria, led by Professor Pablo Campra, which have been published few dates ago by the prestigious scientific journal American Journal of Geophysical Research ", that is, translated into Castilian," Journal of Geophysical Research , "thanks to the greenhouses in the Campo de Dalias, or if you prefer County West Coast of Almeria, the average air temperature outside the greenhouse has fallen steadily in recent decades. Contrasting data are the temperatures of the past 25 years, according to which the average temperature has decreased 0.75 º Celsius in those 25 years, grew parallel to how the soil surface covered with plastic. This effect is because a large part of the total energy comes in the form of solar radiation to our region is directly returned to the outside of the atmosphere because it reflects on the roofs of the greenhouses, which is further facilitated by the fact that we only have 35 days annual average cloud, the albedo effect or "mirror" is especially important in summer, most likely due to money from the ceiling by farmers to limit excessive heat inside the greenhouse.

And that our district cooling has occurred despite the fact that there is global warming, which is estimated at 0.7 degrees Celsius from 1901 to date and the Iberian Peninsula, south of which is our region, it is estimated 1.3 º Celsius during these past 108 years, which is of particular concern during the period 1979-2005, where the rise has been most pronounced in the world: 0.4 º C, and the waters of the Alboran Sea, which bathes our shores, has been 0.7 degrees C over the past 25 years.

And we can say, therefore, our greenhouses are contributing to slow global warming part of the Iberian Peninsula and the entire Planet.

It so happens, moreover, that the greenhouses are a tremendously important sink main global warming gas on Earth, which is the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) because of the greenhouse plants is consumed by photosynthesis, and the municipality of El Ejido greenhouses plant debris, estimated at about 500,000 cubic meters per year of green waste, not subject to combustion or gasification, but should become overwhelmingly in quality compost, organic fertilizer to enrich agricultural soils as a basal dressing. Our agricultural system is therefore clearly a huge sink of gases that cause global warming. It is estimated that each hectare greenhouse in the municipality of El Ejido Atmospheric consumes an average of about 10 tonnes of CO2 each year.

This further contributes to solving the enormous problem of global warming that our country and the whole of Europe due to emissions of gases called "greenhouse gases" and should be highly taken into account by the authorities of Andalusia, Spain, the European Union and the United Nations Organization to defend at all costs the existence of our production system under plastic.

Particularly sensitive to this aspect of our gardening should be the Spanish government, as Spain's international commitment in the Kyoto Protocol is assumed that emissions of greenhouse gases not grow more than 15 per cent between 2008 and 2012 regarding 1990. In Spain today is sadly one of the countries of the world that is more worrying is going to break that commitment it made to humanity, because emissions of Greenhouse Gases in our country have increased by about 50% compared to he gave in 1990: about 35 points of which Spain is committed to fulfill. Other European countries it will fulfill its commitment, as is the case in Germany. However, as explained above, our gardening may help Spain to close the commitment to the rest of the Metro in Kyoto, and even more if we optimize the transport systems of our vegetables and plants.

II) Agricultural waste is recycled: the system is environmentally sustainable.

The New Rural Health Plan of the municipality of El Ejido, in force since November 2000, allows for 340,000 units annually recycle packaging waste, 40,000 tons. fruit, 500,000 m3 of plant debris, 100,000 m3 of plastics, metals and timber, and around 70,000 m3 of waste substrates, thanks to the numerous existing recycling businesses in the area, highlighting all Ejido Medio Ambiente, SA , Ibacplast and Denplax, among others, without forgetting the more than 30 family businesses that manage the collection of waste from those farmers in the municipality of El Ejido who do not wear them directly to recycling plants.

III) environmental improvements have been in the last decade. The fight against crop pests in the municipality of El Ejido is done mainly through biological control or non-residual insecticides, and in our province is fully abandoned the use of Methyl Bromide long before it became in many other horticultural areas Planet. This has also allowed the air we breathe is substantially improved over the last decade, and this has caused a significant increase in the diversity of fauna and flora that exist in non-cultivated areas in the municipality. Also, the air we breathe inside the greenhouses is also much healthier, with improved This entails working conditions for farmers and farm employees in those that have them (56% of total) together all of the improvements in the ventilation of the greenhouses and automation of work of fertilization and irrigation, thus avoiding extreme temperatures and are becoming less frequent injuries. In winter the temperature inside the greenhouses is much more comfortable than outside throughout the day, and the rest of the year are avoided within the working hours of the day was hot.

IV) The plastic greenhouses has avoided the dramatic soil erosion that would have been produced by the systematic and periodic torrential rains heavily, as well as by the very strong winds also common. This loss of land that has been avoided is not an unimportant factor: some of the suffering humanity famines in Africa are in part causing this unfortunate and avoidable phenomenon.

V) has optimized the use of irrigation water factor, because it is widespread in the mid-80s of XX century drip irrigation system, and has optimized the use of organic matter to increase natural fertility soils, particularly on farms sanded floor. The system of regular supply of organic matter, compost quality either, as manufactured by Ejido Environment, or whether manure also helps to combat effectively and naturally crop diseases induced by soil fungi. That is part of the call biofumigation.

- Since our production system generates very healthy food, plus ornamental plants and flowers that contribute to the welfare of the population, and consumes during photosynthesis greenhouse gases (CO2). Fruits and vegetables are natural sources of antioxidant proteins and their use is essential for all people. They are the only type of food, along with water, which is essential in any diet, and our farmers to produce and ship more than 50 countries around the world for its inhabitants to enjoy. Before being sent to market, companies marketing the volunteers undergoing the most rigorous quality controls, audited by the world's most demanding companies in the field. All this is done with the aim of most exquisite customer service, and supported by rigorous laboratory work in support of the sector, accredited by the National Accreditation Board, ENAC, based on ISO 17 025. This applies, among others, the laboratory CUAM of El Ejido. Our livestock system also produces meat and milk of sheep and goat meat of excellent quality.

- Given the importance of rural areas for our country, and particularly for the municipality of El Ejido, since, and suffice the example of our municipality, the normal operation of the agricultural sector jobs depend directly over 33,300 people each year . Given, therefore, the significant social importance is our agriculture for the whole of Spain and the countries from which many of the agricultural workers in El Ejido, by the huge number of jobs it generates systematically every year and how our agriculture contributes to generate money that is transferred regularly by many immigrant workers to the local economies of their areas of geographical origin, helping very significantly to economic development in these countries, many so-called Third World, particularly African and Latin-America. In addition our agriculture creates jobs for many Spanish, of all the autonomous communities.

- Given the enormous importance to the provincial economy, regional and national agricultural sector has our thanks to fruits and vegetables produced in greenhouses of our farmers come to the most demanding markets in the world, a total of 50 countries developed, generating the whole of Spain a major profit via taxes and via trade balance, bearing in mind that over 50% of total goods exported from the province of Almeria are fruits and vegetables in the municipality of El Ejido, assuming 600,000 annually million, and that one of the great challenges of the entire Spanish economy should be cease to be the worst in the developed world in terms of trade balance, support for this the Spanish authorities in all possible areas, all systems productive net exporters, such as agriculture in our municipality and the whole of Almeria province and our country.

- Since our agricultural system serves authentic Development School thousands of people from many member countries each year, either visit us to work and then return to their countries of origin to apply learning in setting up their own agricultural enterprises or what made only for a short period of time to learn from our farmers, our technicians or teachers at the University of Almería. Stresses in this regard the work he does each year, the Ibero-American Municipal Union, or the development work that has conducted the City of El Ejido in Central America, particularly in the depressed Nicaragua, where, in collaboration with the Handmaids of the Immaculate Girl has installed a greenhouse free to farmers in the area learn to grow vegetables and fruit and can thus produce quality food for those poor areas of the planet.

- Since our agriculture and animal husbandry have motivated the development over the past forty years, in parallel to them, a complex system of support outside the production system, comprising utility companies, research organizations, laboratories, financial institutions, agronomic advisory bodies, management companies agricultural products, etc, all depend on the local agricultural system, without which would have serious difficulties to survive.

- Since March 2006, and in this City, at the request of the Department of Agriculture and Environment requested the Central Government to declare as sensitive or special products, given its strategic importance to our province, in the negotiations of the Union vis third countries, each and every one of the species of fruits and vegetables that our farmers produce and sell our marketing companies, namely, pepper, tomato, cucumber, melon, watermelon, eggplant, zucchini, green beans and bok choy. And since the National Government responded to that request by promising that it would study the proposal of this Council.

- Since the National Government is supporting and intensively, which we applaud and support to other sectors net exporters of our country as the field of manufacturing and marketing of automobiles.

- Given that the net margin of the activity in horticulture and livestock production in our town has fallen dramatically in recent years, by the gradual but rapid rapprochement between production costs and average revenue received by the marketing of the product because of the blatantly unfair competition from third countries, to exist, in numerous cases, a serious threat to short-term survival of a considerable number of farms.

- Since the Spanish agriculture and livestock contribute decisively to maintaining the rural environment and that its gradual disappearance would be an unsustainable deterioration of this, with serious environmental consequences most notably the high risk of fire raising in rural areas.

- Since there is a growing gap between the average prices received by farmers for their products and they have to pay consumers in shops and supermarkets, and that in the last month have become differences of 1131% in eggplant and 778% in cucumber, for example.

- Given that this municipality has the right to echo the legitimate demands that the citizens of your municipality may require you to elevate to the higher authorities of areas that are legally competent and therefore they are by law required to resolve situations who are showing serious shortcomings for citizenship.

- Since the Agricultural Organisations in Spain, COAG, UPA ASAJA and supported by the Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Spain (Agro-Food Cooperative) presented on 5 November, a letter in the Council in which we ask that explicitly support them in their claim that the Spanish government declared the agricultural sector of our country as strategic.

Based on this, the City Council finds that:

The City Council of El Ejido must seek explicit statement with the appropriate consequences of strategic sector for the whole of Andalusia and the Nation in the agricultural sector in the municipality of El Ejido and the province of Almeria. That request must be submitted to the Government of the Spanish State and the Board of Andalusia, for this strategy also considers it appropriate purposes.

The City Council of El Ejido is solidarity with the Spanish Agriculture and Livestock sector, which it considers strategic and vital to the development of rural areas.

It is essential that an urgent basis, the Government of Spain considers the need to give strong support to the agricultural sector of our country, considered strategic for the whole Spanish State, and on that basis establish a series of measures to support additional currently existing ones, such as:

1) Promotion and establishment of a regulatory framework for commercial transactions in the food chain, so that the differences between prices paid to farmers for their products are always proportionate to those paid by final consumers for such products on stores, excluding stores called "Gourmet" or excellent, and only increased the costs of marketing, known by the Government of Spain through studies in recent years has taken place.

2) Establishment of mechanisms of transparency in price formation in markets for factors of production (inputs) needed by the farmer and rancher in order to operate fertilizers, electricity, products, herbal medicines, plastics, animal feed, etc., Experiencing increases important when the oil price in international market rises, but that just gets cheaper for the agricultural sector when oil prices in international markets down significantly. Review the regulatory framework of electricity supply for farms and ranches.

3rd) Establishing a proper taxation: VAT increase compensation for livestock, reduced VAT for agricultural inputs. Implementation of a commercial diesel fuel for farmers and ranchers.

4) Establishment of a Plan of Financing and Refinancing of the debt of the agricultural sector.

5) Promotion and establishment of a Common Agricultural Policy that goes beyond the year 2013 and contains an updated budget to the cost of production today, to prevent young people leaving farming and the countryside is depopulated slowly.

6 º) Development of a highly funded to support the establishment of renewable energy on-farm agricultural, to help combat global warming, so that farmers can pour easily electricity from their farms by energy renewable, and obtain additional income return from farming.

7) Implementation of an ambitious and determined concentration of supply and business integration of the production companies and marketing origin of food products, to evolve towards a model of production companies large and competitive, capable to negotiate on equal terms with large companies existing food distribution.

And therefore proposes:

1 .- To approve this motion, previously transcribed.

2 .- Bring the next Full Council of El Ejido this motion.

3 º .- To transfer the contents of this motion to the Board of Andalusia, for the office of the Spanish Government in Almeria, and the Delegation of the Spanish government in Andalusia, and the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs and and the Commission on the Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, House of Representatives, urging them to take appropriate measures and to continue with the collaboration they deem appropriate in the City of El Ejido in the field of expertise that marks the Spanish state law.