The Cabildo has unanimously approved in the plenary session held this Friday the agreement proposed by the Government group to grant a nominated subsidy to the Regulatory Council of the Designation of Origin of Wines of Lanzarote, with the aim of developing the project called "Study to quantify the irrigation needs of the vineyard to assess the emergency situation of irrigation".
All the political groups that make up the plenary of the Island Institution, meeting telematically, supported this initiative that undertakes the Water Area of the Cabildo of Lanzarote after collecting the concerns in this regard exhibited by the sector.
The island councilor Andrés Stinga, responsible among other areas of the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, detailed during his intervention in the session the precise "diligence" that they have maintained in this matter since, fifteen days after the heads of the Regulatory Council met with the president María Dolores Corujo, the response from the Institution has arrived.
"We recognize and share the concern of winegrowers regarding the health of the vine; and from there we have tried to urgently find a viable solution because it has not been easy. Finally," continued the councilor, "because the Council cannot grant the subsidy directly, we from the Cabildo will facilitate a subsidy to the Regulatory Council to carry out the study of the farms in which we could facilitate water to those plots that do not currently have an irrigation network," he noted.
Andrés Stinga specified that the Corporation is allocating 20,000 euros to this subsidy to execute the Study that exactly quantifies the irrigation needs of the vineyard according to the emergency situation. And he also stressed the speed required by the matter, since "farmers are asking for this situation to be resolved before spring" due to the damage that the lack of irrigation can cause in certain farms.
The forecast that the Cabildo of Lanzarote is now managing after approving this economic support is that its conclusions will precipitate the declaration of water emergency that the Institution itself must promote; and from there we will proceed to get the water to the farms marked in the analysis.
It adds to the subsidy of one million euros to winegrowers
It should be remembered that the regulatory bases and the call for subsidies aimed at the island's winegrowers for a total value of one million euros have also been approved.
These subsidies are intended to compensate winegrowers for the cost overruns that the sector has in years of low harvest, as well as to support the maintenance of a unique and singular landscape in the world, such as that generated by the vineyards in Lanzarote, the island's main crop in production area.
According to the bases, winegrowers who are registered in the Regulatory Council of Wines of the Designation of Origin of Lanzarote at the time of applying for the subsidy and who are up to date with tax and Social Security obligations may access these aids. Applications may be submitted after the publication of the regulatory bases and the call for applications in the Official Gazette of the Province of Las Palmas (BOP).
