Several leading Spanish fresh produce associations have taken part in a major demonstration today (18 March) against the closure of a water pipeline that they claim could jeopardise the production of fruit and vegetables in several regions.
As many as 300,000 people were expected to take part in the protest in the city of Murcia, which is demanding that the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha reverse its decision to close the Tajo-Segura pipeline by 2015.
The pipeline, which runs between the Tajo river in Castilla-La Mancha to the Segura river in Murcia, feeds production across Murcia, Alicante and Almería and fresh produce groups claim its planned closure threatens thousands of jobs.
In a statement, Murcia-based producer-exporter cooperative Proexport claimed that production of fruit and vegetables in Castilla-La Mancha could also be ended if the pipeline is shut down.
Currently the fresh produce sector in Murcia, Alicante and Almería exports an estimated 9.5m tonnes of fruit and vegetables every year. Proexport president Miguel Durán claimed the closure of the system would cause a crisis “without precedence” in the only sector of the Spanish economy that was still generating employment in spite of the current financial crisis.
“To axe the irrigation of south-eastern Spain would be to sacrifice a competitive agricultural sector, which generates 40 per cent of Spain’s fruit and vegetable exports,” he said.
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