The Government of the Canary Islands has granted eight million euros in subsidies to compensate for the extra costs of desalination and extraction of water from wells and galleries for agricultural irrigation in the archipelago.
Among the beneficiaries is the Lanzarote Water Consortium, which will receive 245,500 euros for desalination and water regeneration projects. The Lanzarote agricultural island service Agrolanzarote will also receive aid of around 7,000 euros in compensation for the extra costs.
In all of the Canary Islands there are a total of 71 beneficiaries, generally irrigation communities, cooperatives or agricultural companies. The figure represents an increase of more than 22% in the number of beneficiaries compared to the previous year. It should be noted that the aid paid in 2019, then 6 million euros, was distributed to 28 applicants. Since then, the number of beneficiaries has gradually increased to reach the current figure.
The regional minister of the area, Alicia Vanoostende, highlighted the importance of this aid “which has a direct impact on the final cost paid by irrigators for water”. She also highlighted that “they arrive at an essential moment for the strengthening of the sector, which is going through various difficulties in the islands, including energy overcosts, derived from the increase in the electricity bill”.
For this reason, she valued the "good understanding with the Government of Spain", through its Ministry of Ecological Transition, “which has been key to achieving a significant increase in these subsidies for 2023, going from 8 to 14 million euros, which will allow a boost to irrigation communities, cooperatives and companies when facing energy expenses”.
Likewise, Vanoostende assured that from her department, and in collaboration with the administrations involved, “we will continue to insist on the need to launch different lines of subsidies to improve the conditions of farmers and the optimization of available water, not only to reduce their costs, but to advance in the modernization of irrigation, which results in efficient and quality management”.
