Farmers, ranchers, the primary sector, and the general population now have a new interactive work tool. According to the Cabildo, "Agrolanzarote" (www.agrolanzarote.com) is born as "a complete and attractive website that aims to respond to and promote the development of the primary sector of Lanzarote", through the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies.
"Agrolanzarote is not only presented as a website that includes all the current affairs and information of interest to the sector, but is also configured as a platform and essential work and coordination instrument for the primary sector of the island", explained the Councilor for Agriculture and Livestock of the Cabildo, Francisco Fabelo, who during the presentation was accompanied by the Councilor for Social Welfare, Marciano Acuña.
In addition, the head of the Agriculture Area service, Tania Acuña, and the coordinator of the "Mercalanzarote" project, Inés Gómez, under which the web portal has been developed, were also present. The event was also attended by more than a hundred interested people and professionals from the primary sector of the island.
Through this tool, professionals will be able to receive phytosanitary alerts on their mobiles, be connected to weather stations, publish their own ads to sell their products online through Mercalanzarote. In this way, they will be able to keep abreast of the subsidies and aid announced by different organizations or publicize the production and all the novelties of the sector".
This website incorporates services such as the "Land Bank", where, as an agricultural real estate agency, landowners can transfer or lease their plots for others to keep them clean and in production. This issue, according to Francisco Fabelo, "is not only important for the creation of new economies, but also for the maintenance of our territory and therefore of our landscape".
Features
The "Create your account" section is one of the main tools presented by Agrolanzarote, due to the possibility it offers the user to open an account as an individual or professional.
Those included in the first of the cases, once registered, will be able to publish free ads, manage data and contacts and comment on the articles published. As far as professional producers are concerned, they will be able to create a public profile through which to display their products, photos of their farms, description of their services or videos.
The portal also includes a chapter where a full account is given of all the "subsidies" and aid aimed at the countryside of Lanzarote. Another of the outstanding novelties is a section dedicated to informing about the "Services" that the Cabildo of Lanzarote offers to both farmers and ranchers.
In it you can access general advice, information on the 'Land Bank' program, on the 'Agricultural Biodiversity Center of Lanzarote (CBAL)', 'Campaigns', 'Livestock', 'Agricultural and oenological laboratory', 'Machinery', 'Island slaughterhouse', as well as a collection point for empty plant protection product containers ('Sigfito'). It also offers timely agrometeorological information, which includes data relating to rainfall, temperatures or winds, provided by the different stations spread across the island, irrigation recommendations and phytosanitary warnings that can be received via mobile phones.
In the "Products" section, the website of the Lanzarote countryside will provide information on how to grow products that occur in Lanzarote with the help of fact sheets. It also gives an account of the different products offered by Lanzarote professionals regarding the form of production, product characteristics or planting dates, for example, in addition to offering in a curious section the possibility of discovering how to prepare succulent "Recipes" with products from the land.
Both professionals and individuals will be able to publish ads by categories, such as employment, for those professionals who offer their services or look for work in the sector; materials to sell or buy of any kind (manure, seedlings, seeds, irrigation?) or products to sell, publish offers with products from the land for the direct consumer or search for the products of their farms. All will receive emails with the latest news from the website.
Ecological world
Finally, in the "Ecological world" section, Agrolanzarote users will be able to access all the current affairs generated in Lanzarote related to ecological agriculture, as well as the list of ecological producers who want to appear on the web.
The Island Agricultural Service intends to hold informative and training talks in April to teach users how to manage and get the most out of the website of the Lanzarote countryside. The dates will be published on the website itself.
