The initiative is promoted by interprofessional organizations Asici, Avianza, Intercun, Interovic, Interporc and Provacuno.
April 22, 2022. The Municipal Livestock-Meat Network has today received the Award for the best initiative in the production sector at the qcom Awards, organized by Agrifood Communication, «for vindicating the contributions of the livestock-meat chain in rural Spain».
This award recognizes the work carried out by the six livestock-meat interprofessional organizations to develop this Network, an idea conceived and promoted by LLYC for the OIAs, which was born with the purpose of becoming a platform for dialogue between the private and public sectors through municipal level and recognize the important support of the municipalities in the development of the chain’s activity, which contributes nearly 48,000 million euros to the national GDP and generates 672,000 direct jobs and two million associated jobs.
The Network, which already has some twenty municipalities from all over Spain and many others that are in the process of joining, aspires to become a platform for dialogue between the private and public sectors at the municipal level, seeking synergies to promote the conditions that They have allowed the livestock-meat value chain to be one of the country’s most important economic and social engines for some time and to act as one of the largest backbone agents in rural Spain.
The main reason is the ability of livestock and meat companies to create activity and 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 the decrease in population 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 nearly 48,000 million euros to the national GDP and generates 672,000 direct jobs. In addition, the activity mobilizes two million associated jobs that fall within a varied selection of activities such as agricultural production for livestock feed and professionals in the veterinary, feed, animal health, logistics and transport sectors and auxiliary industries.
Livestock activity is carried out in more than 350,000 farms throughout the national geography that make a contribution of 16,500 million euros to the Final Agricultural Production, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In addition, the Spanish meat industry put a total of 7.7 million tons of meat and 1.5 million tons of processed meat on the market, valued at 31,727 million euros. This production has ensured Spain’s food sovereignty with regard to meat and has also allowed 3.46 million tons of meat and various processed products to be exported to markets around the world. These transactions have reached a value of 9,107 million euros, with a growth of 5% in foreign turnover and in volume with respect to the figures of the previous year. These figures are of special strategic relevance at a time when international trade is suffering a sharp decline and where the livestock-meat chain has emerged as a guarantee to maintain a positive balance of payments balance.
How to be part of the Network
The municipalities that wish to form part of the Municipal Livestock-Meat Network must approve an institutional declaration in favor of the meat-livestock chain at the municipal plenary session 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 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 among its members there are localities from all geographical areas of the country and that they be governed by political forces of all stripes. The initiative also takes care of demographic representation with the participation of municipalities of all sizes, including those with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, where the positive impact of the activity is even more notable.