The Minister of Agriculture of the regional Executive, Antonio Luengo, presented this Thursday to the Governing Council an assessment of damage to crops caused by the storms last weekend, which affected different areas of Lorca and Cieza. The report indicates that the hail caused the total loss of various crops such as watermelon, melon, artichoke or broccoli, among others, and also affected citrus, olive trees and different species of fruit trees, said the regional government spokesman on Thursday. , Marcos Ortuño, at a press conference.
According to the evaluation carried out by the technicians of the agricultural commercial offices, the affected area reaches 1,771 hectares, 656 in Lorca and 1,115 in Cieza. The loss of production is estimated at 21,764 tons; specifically 20,414 in Lorca and 1,350 in Cieza. And the economic ones are estimated at about 8 million euros, about 7 million in Lorca and more than a million in Cieza, pointed out the also Minister of the Presidency, who recalled that the Government has requested the Executive of Pedro Sánchez that these areas be declared as areas seriously affected by a civil protection emergency, which was previously known as a disaster area.
“We demand the Government of Spain to act to alleviate the losses in these crops with direct aid to the affected farmers, credits at 0% interest and reduction of the limitation modules,” said Ortuño. “Our farmers cannot wait any longer and, for this reason, we demand that this declaration be approved immediately and that this aid arrive as soon as possible and that, where appropriate, it can be extended to other highly affected areas such as the Altiplano,” continued the counselor.
Agreements of the Governing Council
Regarding the matters approved this Thursday by the Government Council within the actions to protect our natural spaces, the regional Executive approved an investment of almost 3.5 million euros for the conservation and recovery of wild species in the Region of Murcia . “This important investment aims to study the vulnerability value of the different species of wildlife and define the main threats that affect them,” Ortuño stressed. Specifically, the Bonelli’s eagle, the white-headed duck, the lesser kestrel, the great bustard and the European otter, declared endangered.
Likewise, the Governing Council gave the green light to invest almost 600,000 euros for the renewal of the ultrafiltration equipment of the Calasparra treatment plant. The objective of this action is to guarantee the maintenance of the demanding levels of purification of residual trees that this normality has. “This investment will make it possible to replace their equipment with others with more advanced technology adapted to the maximum regulatory requirements of the European Union,” said Ortuño.
The regional government will subsidize the San Javier City Council with almost 1.2 million euros for the development of the campus of the University of Murcia located in the municipality. The money is earmarked for the construction of a new sports hall and its attached facilities. The pavilion will have a total area of more than 2,300 square meters and a minimum height of 7.5 meters.
As regards investments in culture, the Executive will provide funding to the Region’s town halls, which will allow them to purchase 10,000 books for the municipal library network. This action has a total budget of more than 200,000 euros. With this investment, the 94 municipal public libraries will be able to increase their bibliographic collections. The acquisition of these 10,000 books aims to increase the cultural indexes, especially in the youngest culture and to enhance the cultural offer offered by the network of municipal public libraries”, concluded Ortuño.
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