The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, highlighted the support of the Galician primary sector by the government, with more than 70 million distributed in direct aid in the last two years. He did so during a visit to the Labrecos farm in the concello of Oza-Cesuras to learn about the Cultiva program, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and in which María Rivas, deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, and the head of sectoral coordination and external area of Agricultural Unions -UPA, Félix Porto, were also present.
With this respect, the delegate mentioned the aid enabled by the Government in the pandemic and also to face the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as the drop in the price of diesel. “We are on the side of the sector, we know their problems and we work on the solutions. Proof of this is the increase in the budget to subsidise agricultural insurance or the package of measures recently approved by Minister Luis Planas, which includes vital issues such as the simplification of the CAP, the strengthening of the law of the food chain or support for animal health and extensive livestock, among others,” said the delegate.
Cultivating Program
The Cultiva program, of the Ministry of Agriculture, promotes training stays that facilitate access to the activity and the acquisition of skills by new people. The delegate explained that in Galicia there are 22 model farms that participate in this program and that stand out for innovation, productive means, the business model or its social or environmental characteristics. “Farms that know that they have an ally in the government that looks after them at the most difficult times.”
No case of Labrecos, a family cooperative with three members dedicated to the production of orchard and organic livestock in the municipality of Oza-Cesuras, offered this year, through Agricultural Unions -UPA, three training stays, one of which is enjoyed this week by Antonio Jesús Pérez Iglesias, a boy farmer from Cáceres.
These stays consist of five days and 35 hours of work in total. The Ministry assumes the costs of accommodation and travel for young people participating in the programme, while the farm receives 200 euros per day of training as host of the programme.
Pedro Blanco pointed out the relevance of initiatives such as this to face challenges such as the generational change facing the sector and thanked Labrecos and the other Galician farms participating for their contribution and their daily work to make Galicia a reference “not only for the excellent quality of its products, but also for the good to make thousands of families that support our primary sector and that make it possible that today we can continue enjoying food of the highest level at our tables”.