PRESS RELEASE
The Town Hall constitutes the Agriculture Council to debate the demands and concerns of stakeholders
Javea. Friday, 14 September 2011. On Thursday the Javea Town Council convened the first session of the new Agriculture Council (Consell Agrari), chaired by the Councillor for Agriculture, Juan Luis Cardona. In the first meeting the council agreed to meet on a monthly basis. The new political party representatives on the board also took office: Jose Bolufer (PSOE), Jose Javier Mata (Xàbia Democratica), José Antonio Prada (CpJ), Joaquin Ribes (PP), Felip Buigues (Bloc Centristes) and Juan Planelles (New Javea). The Consell Agrari also includes the irrigators, represented by Josep Gilabert, Vicente Tur and Josep Sapena; the Unio de Llauradors, represented by Francisco Cervera and Valencia Farmers Association (AVA), represented by Agustín Esteve, Juan Antonio Miñana and Bartolomé Chorro, while Oscar Dutto alone represents the organic farmers.
Although initially the agenda did not include any further points of discussion, the stakeholders wished to pursue several outstanding issues, given that the advisory body had not convened for several months.
Therefore, according to Councillor Juan Luis Cardona, some of the more pressing issues were debated outside the official minutes, such as the cleaning of abandoned plots in Pla to avoid the presence of wild boars, rabbits and other rodents that ruin crops. In this respect, the farmers asked the Town Council to begin the administrative procedures to obligate owners to clear their land. The demand to use treated wastewater for irrigation was also reiterated, for which it would be necessary to create the tertiary infrastructure and complete the water cycle.
Other claims put forth by the Consell Agrari were the creation of a census of farmers, the possibility of an IBI exemption on farmland that is cultivated by its owners, which would discourage the abandonment of fields, and the programming of an organic farming course which could go hand in hand with the creation of a land “bank” for growing local organic produce for personal consumption and sale.
