GISA WAS CREATED BY AGREEMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS LAST MARCH.

The General Secretary of Rural Environment, Alicia Villauriz, and representatives of the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Industry, Tourism and Commerce, Promotion and Science and Innovation, have met at the MARM headquarters to continue the work being carried out by the Interministerial Group for the Agri-Food Sector (AS), which was established last April within the framework of the Shock Plan for this sector.

GISA's work has been developed around renewable energy policies, establishing the need to disseminate between the producing sector and the processing industry, las iniciativas que se están llevando a cabo por parte del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación sobre la incorporación de los biocarburantes, el biogas y la biomasa sólida en relación con el sector agroalimentario y el medio rural, analizado la manera en que estas energías pueden orientarse en beneficio del sector agroalimentario y la forma en que el medio rural puede aportar un valor añadido a las mismas.

In this sense, el GISA ha debatido sobre la creación de la figura de la Explotación Agraria Productora de Energías Renovables (EAPER), analizando su definición, los requisitos mínimos que deben cumplir las explotaciones para ser calificadas como tales, y sobre los incentivos que, in your case, podrían disfrutar.

The situation of Biofuels has also been discussed., issue that had already been studied in previous meetings of the Table on Agricultural Raw Materials and Biofuels. About this matter, The Secretary General of the MARM has explained to the representatives of the affected ministries the diagnosis of the situation and the main requests of the sector, identifying short and medium term possibilities.

In this same line, Biogas production and the possibility of considering digestion biogas as a source of renewable energy have also been analyzed., beyond its environmental component.

Finally, The issue of solid biomass for energy uses has been addressed, and the possibility of promoting and developing its use from the administrations themselves, as well as encouraging its private use.

The GISA was created by Agreement of the Council of Ministers of 19 March of 2010, with the mandate to study, debate and propose measures to solve the problems of the agri-food sector, in those matters in which the powers of the ministries that are part of the Group coincide, as financing, taxation, control and monitoring of imports, electricity supply in the irrigation sector and renewable energy policy.

In the near future, the GISA technical work that is still pending will continue., such as import control and improving the functioning of the food chain, in preparation for the final report of the Group, which should be submitted to the Government next autumn.