A representation of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, headed by its president Oswaldo Betancort, collected this Friday at the FAO headquarters in Rome, the distinction of Important System of World Agricultural Heritage (SIPAM) awarded to the Island by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The event is part of the global SIPAM certification and exhibition ceremony, an international meeting that brings together every two years the territories recognized for their sustainable agricultural practices and cultural heritage. Lanzarote participates with its own stand, which showcases the island's traditional farming systems -the sand-covered fields, the Geria holes, and the cultivation in the Jable- along with quality agricultural products born from this volcanic land.
During the ceremony, Betancort was accompanied by the vice president, María Jesús Tovar, and by the Minister of Landscape and Food Sovereignty, Samuel Martín, as well as technicians and representatives of the team that promoted the candidacy. The recognition, the FAO emphasizes, distinguishes Lanzarote's traditional agricultural system - the only territory in Spain that has received an award in this edition - as "an exceptional example of balance between human beings and nature," capable of creating life in a volcanic environment and maintaining a respectful and sustainable relationship with the landscape.
"The SIPAM is not the end of a road, but the beginning of a new era for traditional agriculture," stated President Oswaldo Betancort, also the island's Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, who described this international award "not as a gift, but as the result of centuries of popular wisdom, silent effort, and deep love for the land. This act symbolizes that recognition, but it is also a call to commitment. From now on, a new path begins. The SIPAM is not a goal, it is a starting point to continue cultivating the future. And that future has a name: it's called generational change," the president said.
For his part, Councilor Samuel Martín highlighted in Rome the relevance of the award to reinforce Lanzarote's identity and value its landscape: “This SIPAM is an opportunity to strengthen the agricultural identity of our island, so that the world knows the wisdom of our farmers, their way of working the land and living with it. Lanzarote shows that sustainability is not a fad, it is a living heritage that we continue to build every day.”
Lanzarote's traditional agricultural system is a unique example of adaptation to an extreme environment, where rainfall barely reaches 150 millimeters per year. The island's farmers developed an ingenious cultivation method that uses volcanic lapilli (rofe) to capture and conserve soil moisture, protecting plants from wind and salinity. This technique, combined with the zocos - semicircular stone walls that protect the crops - has kept alive an agriculture capable of producing vines, fruits, legumes and cereals, guaranteeing food security and the continuity of traditional knowledge that today the FAO recognizes as a World Agricultural Heritage.
Decisive support for the primary sector
Since the beginning of his term as head of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort "has promoted a policy of economic reinforcement for the primary sector, multiplying aid and subsidies to the countryside." Recently, the Institution - in coordination with the Government of the Canary Islands - has launched a novel line of subsidies for farmers who work in the traditional system of cultivation in holes, a further step in the commitment to protect the island's historical agricultural techniques.
Furthermore, in his role as a parliamentarian, Betancort also secured the approval of a Non-Legislative Proposition (PNL) urging the regional government to establish a deduction in the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) for farmers and ranchers in the SIPAM system, in addition to requesting the State to create a "SIPAM territories" correction index that recognizes the higher costs and lower yields of Lanzarote's agriculture.
An international event on agricultural diversity
The award ceremony for the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, held every two years at FAO headquarters, brought together representatives of the territories recognized between July 2023 and July 2025, including Lanzarote.
The event, whose award ceremony could be followed live through the institutional website of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, includes exhibitions, digital displays, and cultural presentations linked to the Museum and Network of Food and Agriculture (MuNe), recently launched on the occasion of World Food Day.
The only GIAHS award granted to Spain today goes to the hardworking farmers who have worked to protect the landscape of Lanzarote, the environmental sustainability of our land, and the transmission of traditional knowledge, pillars that are added to other recognitions such as Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO Global Geopark.
