Lanzarote, an island where agricultural activity began very early, where in times past, any cultivable place was used by humans; an island that, due to the difficulty of its territory, rugged, arid, and volcanic, forced the farmer to develop his own cultivation techniques, today shows the world only the vestiges of an activity that dies every day.
After the confinement to which COVID19 forced us in 2020, many people sought residential escape to the open space, which has resulted in much of the cultivable agricultural land becoming urbanized, increasing the price of agricultural land, making it impossible to acquire a farm for work, which means not allowing agriculture to grow or allowing people to grow as farmers.
And what about the water? Every day we see news of supply cuts in the towns, but if we focus on the agricultural part, for which water is essential for the life of the crop, the panorama is even worse, finding a lack of guarantee in irrigation, since the supply of agricultural water may or may not arrive, with the impossibility of planning an irrigation calendar and rainfall has been scarce for years. And let's not talk about the farms in the Municipality of Haría that have been waiting for a decade for the provision of a connection point with agricultural water, a fact that implies that these farms are not exploited agriculturally.
This agricultural abandonment, added to the restrictions on hunting, even has its consequences on agriculture itself, posing one of the greatest risks, and that is that the damage that animals such as crows, partridges, and pigeons could cause to the harvest was previously distributed when almost 100% of the island's agricultural land was cultivated, while now this damage is concentrated on those few crops that are found on the island, those so-called agricultural oases that are the verdant of the animals. And not only are animals a threat to the crop, but so is man, who causes those crop thefts at night, destroying everything he finds in his path or making that misuse of the land due to ignorance of the specific cultivation techniques of each cultivable place.
Lanzarote cannot afford to lose agriculture, and this was demonstrated during 2020, not only can tourism be the economic engine of an island, it must also have its own primary activities. Our agriculture needs to be promoted, it needs to be taught to the new generations the care of the countryside, it needs to pass from generation to generation and above all it needs our administrations.
It is urgent that measures be taken, and I am not only talking about economic incentives, but realistic measures, such as providing a connection point for agricultural water to all cultivable land that is to be exploited, guaranteeing the supply of agricultural water in a stable and permanent way, without cuts or interruptions, providing training in cultivation techniques and care of the countryside to new farmers, establishing the figure of rural guards who guarantee security to crops or surveillance cameras, these along with other measures could mean a salvation to our agriculture, an activity in decline and abandonment, but necessary for the survival of life.
