Unió de Pagesos de Mallorca calls for the support of local councils to protect the primary sector and reject the Mercosur treaty

PalmThe Unió de Pagesos de Mallorca (Mallorca Farmers' Union) has launched a campaign this week targeting all the island's municipalities to defend the primary sector at a critical time. The organization has submitted a motion urging local councils to take a stand against the effects of... the trade agreement with Mercosurto demand compensation for the new CAP and to simplify access to aid for professional farmers.

According to the organization's Secretary General, Sebastià Ordines, "we want mayors and councilors, of all political stripes, to go out and tell their constituents that they are against the arrival of food containing pesticide, pharmaceutical, or hormone residues that have been banned here for years." Ordines added that agreements cannot be signed thousands of kilometers away that endanger Mallorcan farmers, and that products that cannot be produced on the island due to their environmental impact should not be allowed on our shelves. The motion proposes three lines of action: rejection of Mercosur if reciprocity clauses are not applied, compensation for income lost due to the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and administrative simplification to ensure that all professional farmers can access available aid.

With this initiative, Unió de Pagesos reminds us that the peasantry not only provides food, but is also a guarantee of the landscape, culture and food sovereignty of Mallorca, and warns that its disappearance would have "irreversible consequences for the whole of society".