Unió de Pagesos gathered this Friday at noon before the Government Delegation in Barcelona to demand the end of the war in the Middle East and demand urgent responses in the face of the economic impact that the conflict is generating in Catalan agriculture.
The union alerts of increases in fuels and fertilizers
The agrarian organization denounces that the rising cost of agricultural diesel and fertilizers is raising production costs to levels that can endanger the viability of many farms. According to data provided by Unió de Pagesos, in the first ten days of war the price of fuel has risen more than 30 cents per liter. In the same period, the price of fertilizers has increased by about 20 cents per kilo.
During the protest, union representatives handed to the Government delegate a battery of proposals so that they are transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture. These measures have also been sent to the Councillor of Agriculture and to the Catalan and Spanish parliamentary groups.
Demands before the European, state, and Catalan institutions
Unió de Pagesos requests that European, state, and Catalan institutions activate emergency mechanisms to compensate for the increase in costs. Among the requests addressed to the European Union, the union demands extraordinary direct aid for the agricultural sector to complement the crisis reserve funds of the Common Agricultural Policy and the current de minimis rules. Likewise, it asks to eliminate obstacles and additional costs in the import of fertilizers in situations like the current one.
Regarding the Spanish Government, Unió de Pagesos proposes the creation of a special tax of 0.021 euros per liter for professional agricultural, livestock, and forestry diesel. It also proposes applying a reduced VAT of 10% to all goods and services used in agricultural, livestock, and forestry production, in addition to direct aid for the most affected sectors and a review of the IRPF modules.
In the Catalan sphere, the union demands its own aid lines for crisis situations, the exemption from the CO₂ tax for work vehicles linked to agricultural holdings, and financing lines with subsidized interest, both for loans and for guarantees.
Repeated patterns and warning about climate change
Unió de Pagesos maintains that this episode repeats patterns already observed during the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the economic consequences derived from the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Furthermore, it warns that market disruptions associated with climate change are increasingly frequent and intense.
The union insists on the need for administrations to have structural and permanent tools that can be activated quickly in crisis contexts. The objective is to prevent additional costs from falling on the agricultural sector and to guarantee the continuity of farms in Catalonia.