The Platform for the Defense achieves Tomato “commitment” liquidity to start the campaign.

THIS WAS STATED BY THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE WHO COMMITTED TO HAVING IT WITHIN TEN DAYS.

Members of the Platform for the Defense of Tomatoes, Fruits and Vegetables of the Canary Islands who traveled to Madrid to meet with the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister and Vice-Minister of Agriculture of the Government of the Canary Islands, They came back with a feeling “bittersweet”.

The spokesperson for the Platform, Gustavo Rodriguez, explained that this “sensation” It is because we have only obtained the “commitment” of the minister and the counselor to have, within ten days, of the liquidity necessary to start the campaign.

This is due to that, Although the Platform and the Ministry had studied the debt figures and had agreed upon them, at the meeting, The minister made it clear to us that she did not agree with the numbers she had. So, I needed a few days to study and compare that amount, Rodríguez reported.

The Strategic Plan for Export Tomatoes, approved by the Government of Spain and the Canary Islands, which had the approval of the EU, contemplated the payment of annual amounts (aid to the hectare) to the 50% What, from 2009 up to 2014, would decrease to go from €20,000/Ha to €7,000/Ha.

However, although in 2009 Both administrations contributed what was appropriate, from 2010 defaults begin, since the State contributed four million more than its share and the Government of the Canary Islands only thirty thousand euros.

Since then, The State has not contributed any amount; while the Government of the Canary Islands has paid 6,2 million euros distributed between 2012 and 2013, but they do not manage to comply with what is included in the Strategic Plan. curiously, Yes, it has been the EU that has been paying in a timely manner the part that corresponded to it in the aforementioned Plan.

The Platform transferred the minister, Isabel García Tejerina, the detailed x-ray of the sector and why this situation had been reached as well as the confluence, unprecedented in the recent history of the Canary Islands, of employers, agricultural organizations and unions, organized on this Platform, to save the activity and 20.000 jobs.

From the Platform they influenced the social drama that the destruction of the thousands of jobs generated by the sector would mean for the Canary Islands., as well as the cessation of export activity, que es capaz de poner un tomate de Canarias en cualquier supermercado cercano al Círculo Polar Ártico en una semana.

Para iniciar la próxima campaña, el sector necesita como mínimo catorce millones de euros de los cuarenta de la deuda total. Esta liquidez tiene que estar disponible antes del próximo día 15 June, de lo contrario no se podría iniciar la zafra.

On the other hand, la ministra reconoció a la Plataforma la importancia de este sector y es por ello por lo que se compromete a trabajar de manera inmediata en la búsqueda de liquidez para que en un plazo de diez días, nos pueda comunicar cómo se hace efectivo.

Also, García Tejerina solicitó la implicación del sector para realizar un estudio con “todo rigor” del estado del tomate canario de exportación, con el fin de disponer de elementos contrastados que permitan trabajar en el futuro del sector.

Sin aún tener resuelta esta parte del problema, desde la Plataforma afirman que ya están centrados en el otro escollo: la compensación al transporte que supone una deuda de 18,1 million euros. To do this, han obtenido el compromiso de la delegada del Gobierno en Canarias que organizará en breve un encuentro con el ministerio de Fomento.

Antes de concluir las casi dos horas de encuentro, la Plataforma le hizo entrega a la ministra y al consejero el cd room que contenía las casi 21.000 firmas recogidas en la plataforma on line change.org, y más de cuatro mil en formato papel en apoyo de la continuidad del sector.

Both acknowledged being aware of this signature support campaign since they were receiving them daily in their respective emails..

The meeting was also attended by the minister and the counselor, the Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Carlos cabins, the Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Mª del Carmen Hernández Bento, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Alonso Brook, the director of the Minister's Cabinet, Maria Garcia Rodriguez, the members of the Platform and the representative of Asaga Canarias.