“Desperate”, this is how the farmers of Central Catalonia feel due to the losses of more than 80% of the cereal harvest. In fact, there are many who won't start their mowers because it doesn't work out for them. "Insurers will not be able to face this disaster," laments Santi Caudevilla, head of cereals and herbaceous at Unió de Pagesos.
On the other hand, the lack of forage due to the drought also affects the animals, since it is their source of food. Some cattle are disappearing and others are on the edge. This is the case of Josep Serra, who has had a herd of 350 sheep in Bages for more than 40 years. If the drought continues, you will have nowhere to graze them or feed them because fodder will not only be expensive, but hard to find.
Farmers fear that there will be shortages and warn of the "serious consequences" that this may entail, with the disappearance of entire cattle.
Faced with this situation, Unió de Pagesos regrets that the little fodder that remains is exported abroad, where they are willing to pay "even more exorbitant" prices, which makes the price here even more expensive. For all this, the union calls for measures so that this fodder "stays in the country and serves to cover the current emergency."
When it comes to water restrictions, farmers regret that they have been the first sector to suffer consequences. In this sense, Caudevilla denounces that priority is being given to the tourism sector: "we are betting on a tourism that has seasonality and little qualification of the people, with very low salaries and we are failing to value a sector such as the primary one, which is internationally recognized and gives work all year round”.
Caudevilla underlines the importance of agriculture in the management of the territory. "Later we will complain that there are fires," he stresses. In addition, he adds, the quality of the food is at stake. “Food will be imported because there won't be any here, but quality will have nothing to do with it, he assures.
In Manresa there is one of the few sheep herds that still remain in the Bags. It is that of Josep Serra, who has dedicated himself to this trade since he was little. He takes them to graze every day and his work is "key" to managing the understory in the area. With the drought, he finds that he has no fields or forest to graze so that the animals cannot find food and he assures that, without fodder, the situation is "very serious."
Serra assures that, with this situation, he does not know what the solution is, but he does not contemplate sacrificing his cattle. For one, they wouldn't pay her what she's worth, but mostly because she's devoted her entire life to him. “To make this cattle I have had to spend many years, keep doing it, keep improving it. I have left my life and having to abandon it is very hard. It's like a family, you love it, ”he underlines. According to Serra, there are fewer and fewer cattle and "there will be no good meat." “People are leaving this trade and, if you want to eat good lamb, there won't be any. We will eat a pig for a poke ”, he laments.
