The Ordino Livestock Fair is held throughout the weekend
The drought is a problem added to other issues such as inflation that worries the agricultural and livestock sector and for this reason the acting Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Sustainability, Sílvia Calvó, has emphasized that “a follow-up ” to “if necessary” take “the appropriate measures” bearing in mind that you want to “be with the ranchers”, since what you don’t want in any way is for “the rancher’s hut to decrease so that the country he needs it for the common good they do.” In this way, Calvó has stated that we will have to wait to see the precipitation that can occur in these months of May and June, since this will “condition or not the summer”. In parallel, the cutiu has sent a letter to the commons, since the management of the
Calvó made these statements at the inauguration of the third edition of the Ordino Livestock Fair which started this Saturday with the participation of between 110 and 120 heads of cattle and an auction of brown males in which according to the technicians French people have given themselves one of the best qualities. “It’s one of the best years in terms of specimens”, remarked Calvó, who added that the eleven heads in the competition represent one of the largest numbers of specimens in this competition, in which five were finally auctioned.
The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Sustainability of Ordino, Eduard Betriu, has emphasized that during the weekend many people are expected to visit the fair in which “there are more and more cattle” and already is fully consolidated. In fact, he emphasized that this appointment serves to show that “the livestock and agricultural sector in the parish is a living sector” and he demanded that the common do “the maximum within our budgetary power” to help it continue like this. He mentioned the fair, the common guards, the cowboy who is 100% subsidized, or the help with fences in the summer. “What we want and are interested in is that the sector remains alive because Ordino without this sector we would not be a biosphere reserve and we would not be Ordino,
Both Betriu and Calvó have agreed that one of the sector’s problems is inflation, and in this sense the acting Head of Agriculture has recalled the various aids promoted so that the sector can cope with it. He pointed out that at Ramaders d’Andorra it has been decided to increase the purchase price of meat, therefore, one euro more is now paid per kilo of calf, which “represents 200 or 300 euros more” per specimen and also stated that to offset the feed purchase price has been made retroactive, “so ranchers will see the new purchase price rate retroactively applied to them throughout 2022 to offset some of that increase we have had in the price of food for livestock”, he added. Betriu has pointed out that the sector “
The minister claimed that this legislature “has done a lot of work” both in the selection and improvement of the brown race, which is evident in the brown race contest, as well as the legislative drive to implement aid, such as that of the animal welfare, or the automatic updating of the CPI, “which is written into the law, which is very important because it must help farmers to cope with inflation”.
The Acting Head of Agriculture also recalled that the grass levy was an issue that “also worried them, we already anticipated and passed the elimination through the Government until the end of the year to give time to the next government to do an analysis and see if it can be canceled directly.”
Calvó also mentioned that the law contemplates the possibility of promoting agrotourism and that this is a complementary activity for the sector. In addition, he recalled the work with the communes for the modification of the urban regulations to facilitate the implementation of agricultural exploitations “much more depreciable because they will have much easier infrastructures to build”, changes that he hopes will take place this year.
The minister said that she was satisfied that her last act as minister was this fair. “I’m particularly excited,” he remarked, adding that “I feel in the middle of the ranchers.” He has assessed that he is now closing “a stage” of eight years at the head of the ministry and that he will open “other stages”.
The Ordino Livestock Fair is held throughout the weekend and is complemented by the craft and agri-food market in which around thirty stallholders take part.