The spokesperson for the Parliamentary Group of the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG) maintains that we must “respond to the needs of the field”
The spokesperson for the Parliamentary Group of the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG), Casimiro Curbelo, insisted this Saturday, the 8th, that “politics must have common sense and respond adequately to the needs of the countryside”, which is why he defended the need to implement aid and incentives for this sector.
"We understand the requests that farmers are making these days and we consider that it is necessary to articulate tools to provide aid to the agricultural and livestock sector of our Islands, said Curbelo. "We must recover the countryside, since at this time this sector represents a fairly small percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), just over 1% with about 20,000 jobs, so we have to work to find formulas that allow us to help and enhance the field.”
The ASG deputy emphasized that in recent decades there has been a migration from the midlands in the Islands, which has led to a notable decline in the primary sector. "In the case of La Gomera, citizens have left the middle areas to settle in the capital, San Sebastián, in search of greater services and, in fact, this town has a demographic dimension of around 10,500 inhabitants, out of a total population of 21,000 de jure inhabitants, because the population has moved."
Curbelo stressed that another factor that has not benefited the island countryside is the advanced age of the population living in rural areas and explained that, for example, in the case of Colombina Island, 22% of citizens are over 65 years old, so he proposed finding formulas to make this sector attractive to new generations. "We must worry and take care of our agriculture, since the countryside is our pantry and if we produce properly, this will also mean that dependence on the outside world and, therefore, imports, will be lower," he noted.
“It is true that the current political and economic situation, with aspects such as Brexit or the possible reduction of European funds, could endanger the primary sector, which is why we must make a special effort to guarantee its survival, betting on aspects such as modernization and generational change,” indicated the Gomero deputy.
