When the water sounds, the river carries. Or it does not carry water, but there is noise. Specifically, as a result of the controversy in Doñana regarding the intentions of the Junta de Andalucía to increase the cultivated area in the vicinity of the National Park, whose jurisdiction corresponds to the regional government.
Incited as a political hornet’s nest as a result of the last regional and municipal elections of May 28, the cross of accusations between the government of Spain, socialist, and the Andalusian executive, led by the Popular Party, has pilloried a reality that has splashed beyond our borders, even though there is little water.
In between, the Aldi supermarket chain and a petition to various German establishments urging them to reduce purchases of Spanish strawberries (from Andalusia, which produces about 324,000 tons of this strawberry, when the Spanish total is around 360,000 tons). tons) due to the intensive use made of water resources.
Converted into a combat weapon thrown into the political arena, the reality is that the noise generated has had more to do with the vested interests than with the farmers themselves and with Aldi itself.
In fact, the reality is that this petition —signed through camp!, a platform similar to Change.org, that is, non-binding—has barely exceeded 160,000 signatures. However, seems to have echoed more in Spain than in Germany itself.
political noise
The truth is that, although illegal aquifers are being used, Andalusian farmers have insisted that the strawberry crops closest to the National Park are within 35 kilometers from the limits of Doñana.
The coleus of the situation, summarized in a political duel between electoral campaignswas also intensified by the supposed presence of a series of German parliamentarians who were going to go to Doñana to check the situation and which, finally, has not occurred.
What we do know is that on May 8, long before all the controversy broke out in our country, Aldi Süd, half of the German company, which in this case operates in the south of the country, published a statement of commitment to local agriculture on its website.
It contains the words of Erik Dobele, Managing Director National Buying & Services of ALDI SÜD, which also guarantees that from April 10 only German asparagus would be purchased and that, from May 15, all the strawberries they marketed had to be of German origin.
Under a sustainability umbrella that also has protectionist overtones, the reality is that in the Aldi Süd statement there is no mention of Spain, Doñana or the drought, but simply to bet on Nearby pickups and short transportation routes that support the German farmer.
“For us, the norm is: as long as there are regional or German strawberries available in the supermarket, we buy them only during the season. Depending on the weather, this can last until the end of August,” Döbele explained in the statement that now threatens Aldi in our country.
Protectionism or environmentalism?
Again, the political boomerang turns a environmental measure (but protectionist) of a supermarket in the object of vehement criticism from the Spanish customer, who is now urging —via Twitter— to boycott Aldi.
In between, also the declarations of Interfresa (the representative interprofessional organization of the strawberry and red fruit sector in Andalusia) to Europe Presswhich ensures that “one hundred percent of exported strawberries and berries have the GLOBALG.AP IFA ‘Spring’ certification for crops”, citing that German supermarkets such as Rewe, Aldi, Lidl, Edeka and Kaufland endorse these practices .
The reality, as they explain from xatakais that the law that the Popular Party intends to implement with the support of Vox, would come to solve a problem derived from the reorganization of the land that the Junta de Andalucía carried out —when it was governed by the PSOE— prohibiting crops in certain areas that had always been intended for this purpose, as explained eldiario.es and? would correspond to about 750 hectares of land.
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In the parliamentary procedure that Juan Manuel Moreno, president of the Junta, tries to start, the amnesty for illegal irrigation which are in the northern crown of Doñana —outside the National Park— and which would form part of those lands that the PSOE rearranged when it governed Andalusia, linked to the municipalities of Almonte, Bonares, Lucena del Puerto, Moguer and Rociana del Condado, as as can be seen from the Andalusian parliamentary process.
The distortion, which is what has plagued Aldi, both in Spain and in Germany, is far from the commitment that the firm maintains in its supermarkets, regardless of the country, since always make sure that fresh products are local, campaigning for the season and for local producers.
Images | iStock
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