The Association of Strawberry and Berry Producers and Exporters of Huelva, Freshuelva, the Association of Citrus Growers of the Province of Huelva, Cooperativas Agro-allimentarias Huelva, Asaja-Huelva, UPA-Huelva and the Association of Irrigation Communities of Huelva (Corehu) have expressed their concern about the lack of rainfall and of the necessary infrastructures that have been requested for decades, the consequence of which is the entry into force, this January, of a 50% cut in the supply of water for irrigation, agreed by the Drought Commission of Tinto-Odiel-Piedras.
The organizations have warned that the situation would not be so extreme had the commitments made in the different hydrological plans been fulfilled and the works declared of general state interest been undertaken. The entry into force of this cut will mean ruin not only for agriculture, which will struggle to maintain its crops in future campaigns, but will also seriously affect the province of Huelva in general.
Thus, it has been agreed for the protests that had been postponed last November to be resumed in late January, given how the situation of the producers in the province remains very serious.
After the postponement of the protests planned for last November, it has been verified that the Government of Andalusia started working on delivering the infrastructures demanded by the sector, but the slowness in the execution of those projects means they are not short-term solutions. On top of that, the works that are the responsibility of the central government are not delivering any short or long-term solutions. Therefore, the organizations demand an effort to complement the initiatives executed by the Government of Andalusia, such as the improvement of the Andévalo dam, in which the regional administration is going to invest 26 million euros.
Also, the organizations will request an emergency meeting with both the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, and the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, to make them aware "of how critical the situation is, and of the need for urgent measures with immediate results."