Several entities from the primary sector of Lanzarote wanted to end the year by making a call to public officials, asking them to "come closer and look" at the sector "through the eyes of fishermen, ranchers, and farmers."
"Despite the adversities and uncertainties that have been suffered since the declaration of the state of alarm, what has been evidenced is that fishermen, ranchers, and farmers have been regularly supplying their catches, products, elaborations, and harvests to stores and supermarkets whenever they have been required to do so, so that food would never be lacking," they state in a statement.
The same is signed by A.D.S. Guanapay, A.D.S.Tamia, Association of Farmers Montaña de Los Valles, Association of Friends of Wine and Cheese of Lanzarote, Association of Professional Farmers of Lanzarote, Association of Ranchers Maramajo de Teguise, Fishermen's Guild of La Graciosa, Fishermen's Guild of Playa Blanca, Fishermen's Guild La Tiñosa, Fishermen's Guild of San Ginés, Association of Artisan Cheese Factories of Lanzarote, Regulatory Council of the Designation of Origin Vinosde Lanzarote, Irrigation Community of the Island of Lanzarote, Organization of Tuna and Fresh Fish Producers Optuna, Professional Agrarian Organization Palca-Unión de Uniones, Agrarian Transformation Society El Jable, Agricultural Cooperative Society Guatiza-Mala, and the Agricultural Cooperative Society Ahof.
"In the worst days of confinement, when the country was paralyzed, if you had gone out into the street at that time, you could have seen how among the few who were circulating early in the morning were the ranchers, who very early in the morning went to milk and feed the cattle, you could also see the fishermen preparing the boat's gear to go out to sea, as well as the farmers heading to their farms to carry out tillage tasks. All of them, although you have not seen them, have been making cheeses, harvesting sweet potatoes, taking care of the vines for the harvest, or fishing that tuna for you. So, when these days you eat a sweet potato trout, savor a Malvasia wine, taste a roasted kid or a grilled tuna loin, remember that they have always been there," they point out.
In their field, they state that "one of the few positive news items that this year 2020 has left is that the primary sector, in the search for possible measures to face the difficult situation it is going through, has begun to meet and share the points that unite us to draw up a strategy that allows access to a hopeful future."
"We have had several meetings with insular political representatives from all parties: senator, national deputy, regional parliamentarians, president and councilors of the Cabildo, to whom the main problems of the group have been transferred. In this sense, we must point out that few of the requests have been promptly attended to; others, on the contrary, were received with manifest delay; and most have simply been ignored. And so, as you will understand, we cannot continue," they point out, however.
Therefore, they ask public officials "once again" to "come closer and look at the primary sector through the eyes of fishermen, ranchers, and farmers." "In them, they will always find a collaborator when it comes to identifying and applying solutions to the sector's problems," they add. "But today, taking a break from our demands and tasks of the moment, various entities from the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa join their wills with the sole purpose of wishing everyone the best in the new year," they conclude.
