The Zafra City Council (Badajoz) has joined the Municipal Cattle-Meat Network, a platform with which the interprofessional organizations of the meat chain (Asici, Avianza, Intercun, Interovic, Interporc and Provacuno) want to thank the vital role that municipalities play in facilitating the development of this activity in rural areas.
The municipal plenary session approved in its session on Thursday, July 29, an institutional declaration in support of the country’s meat-livestock chain, in which its majority presence in rural areas stands out as one of the pillars of the Spanish agri-food sector, the more than two million jobs that it generates nationwide and its economic contribution to agricultural and industrial production.
The institutional declaration, approved unanimously in plenary, recognizes “The relevance of the meat-livestock chain for the economy, society, culture and gastronomy of Zafra, which generates five billion euros in turnover and has been present in the territory for more than 567 years”. In turn, it declares the meat-livestock sector as “One of the fundamental economic levers for the future of economic activity in rural areas and, specifically, in Zafra”, for which this recognition materializes through its adhesion to the Network of municipalities for the meat-livestock chain, constituted to give visibility to the meat-livestock chain at the national level, and urges the regional and national administrations to take “The necessary measures to strengthen the meat-livestock sector in the municipalities, thus contributing to a sustainable and resilient rural development model, which allows guaranteeing and developing a fundamental economic sector for our rural societies.”
The plenary session declares the meat-livestock sector as one of the fundamental economic levers for the future of economic activity in the rural environment and specifically in Zafra
The Council’s agreement also states that «the products of the small and medium-sized municipalities of our country represent a great weight in the foreign market, given the marked exporting nature of the meat-livestock chain. The sector also has unique properties as a factor for economic stabilization and employment in areas with specific difficulties. Due to its own characteristics, it more effectively fixes the population in rural areas. In this context, the role of municipalities with a strong presence in the meat-livestock sector is essential for the development of this sector at the national level, having demonstrated their capacity for resilience and strategic strength in adversities such as that produced by COVID-19 ″.
Such is the case of Zafra, where more than 500 jobs are created in the municipality to meet the needs of livestock, slaughterhouses, meat industries, large-scale stores and existing retailers, through the activity of the livestock and meat sector, which It represents a total of five billion euros in turnover, as it is concentrated in the Iberian pig sector.
Zafra is known for its long livestock, commercial and industrial tradition in the sector at the national level. For 567 years, the traditional San Miguel Fair has been held, the origin of the International Livestock Fair, which since its inception has been used to market animals from all over the national territory and products from the meat-livestock sectors in general. In addition, there are currently a multitude of meat industries operating in the municipality to which a new project that is in the construction phase is going to be incorporated.
The Municipal Livestock-Meat Network to which Zafra has just joined is an initiative that also aspires to become a platform for dialogue between the private and public sectors at the municipal level. The objective is to seek synergies to promote the conditions that have allowed the livestock-meat chain to become the main economic engine of many of the country’s municipalities and cities. The economic and social power of the chain has also allowed its activity to become one of the main backbones of Rural Spain. The main reason is the ability of livestock and meat companies to create quality jobs in the municipalities, which allows many residents to continue living in the same towns where they were born and depopulation is mitigated. With the permanence of the inhabitants, other problems related to population decline are also avoided, such as the loss of social services, leisure alternatives, etc.
The importance of the livestock-meat chain in the Spanish economy
The impact of the livestock-meat chain is also significant at the national level, where it contributes close to 44,000 million euros to the national GDP and generates 672,000 direct jobs. In addition, the activity mobilizes two million associated jobs that are framed in a varied selection of activities such as agricultural production aimed at feeding livestock and professionals in the veterinary, feed, animal health, logistics and transport and auxiliary industries.
Livestock activity takes place in more than 350,000 farms throughout the national geography that make a contribution of 16,000 million euros to Final Agricultural Production, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In addition, during 2020, the Spanish meat industry put on the markets a total of 7.6 million tons of meats and 1.4 million tons of processed meat worth 27,957 million euros. With this production, Spain’s food sovereignty with regard to meats has been ensured and it has also allowed 3.2 million tons of meats and various processed products to be exported to markets around the world. These transactions have reached a value of 8,660 million euros, with a growth of 21% in foreign turnover and in volume with respect to the figures of the previous year. These figures have a special strategic relevance at a time when international trade is suffering a strong setback and where the livestock-meat chain has emerged as a guarantee to maintain the positive balance of the balance of payments.
How to join the Municipal Cattle-Meat Network
The municipalities that wish to be part of the Municipal Livestock-Meat Network must approve in the municipal plenary session an institutional declaration in favor of the meat-livestock chain and accompany this decision with a communicative action. All the necessary information about the process, the purposes of the Municipal Network and the contact form are available at the platform website.
The Municipal Network for the livestock-meat chain intends to be a reflection of the great diversity that exists in Spain. For this reason, it intends that in the medium term its members include localities from all geographical areas of the country and that they are governed by political forces of all kinds. The initiative also takes care of demographic representativeness with the participation of municipalities of all sizes, including those under 5,000 inhabitants, where the positive impact of the activity is even more notable.