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Gloria Martín pleaded to confront the serious environmental and social impacts generated by the uncontrolled expansion of the pig industry and regretted the Regional Assembly's commitment to subsidize water to large livestock magnates to the detriment of other sectors of the economy with more weight in the regional GDP

The councilor of Izquierda Unida-Verdes de Lorca, Gloria Martín, lamented the "lack of responsibility" of the political groups represented in the regional Assembly by the recent approval, unanimously, of a motion that requires the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS) the exclusive allocation of water for the livestock sector, "regardless of the source and at an affordable price for farmers".

That is, "subsidized water" that all taxpayers end up paying.

Martin said that the weight of livestock in the Gross Domestic Product of the Region is 2%, while, for example, that of the industry is 19%.

For this reason, it was asked why it is necessary to subsidize water for pigs and not for activities that generate better jobs, greater added value and a better redistribution of wealth.

And, although the macro-farms entail an important investment for the farmer, only a small percentage of that expenditure goes to employment (less than 3%), which is also precarious or entails unbearable and abusive conditions for the small producers of the integrated farms system.

"There is a strong concentration of farms in few and powerful companies that also own feed mills and slaughterhouses, which allows them to impose their conditions," said Martín.

In this regard, he noted that "concentration and vertical integration relegate the traditional farmer to a marginal role, with a large loss of employment for the rural world, increasingly depopulated."

The mayor of IU-Greens said that the proposal of the regional Assembly affects the unsustainable management of water in the region and the total lack of control in the expansion of a sector that threatens to become a new "bubble."

In that sense, he recalled that in recent months are accelerating, through a policy of "wide-sleeved", the procedures for the construction or expansion of macro-ceilings without taking into account where the water will come out or what is going to do with the huge amount of slurry they generate.

For this reason, Martín advocated facing the serious environmental and social impacts generated by the uncontrolled expansion of the pig industry, through an exhaustive study of the sector and its proper management.

"The easy thing is to make a toast to the sun and bow without objection to the demands of the big tycoons of the pig, but who thinks about the protection of the rights to the health and the environment of the population and in the control of a scarce resource? How is water? the mayor asked herself.

For IU-Verdes-Lorca it is "urgent" to bet on a quality livestock that respects people and the environment that stops megaprojects that destroy employment and the environment.

In this regard, he regretted the lack of courage of the political parties represented in the Regional Assembly, submissive to the interests of the pig lobby and unable to adopt decisions that order and control their activity.

Source: IU-verdes Lorca