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o transform the productive model to guarantee that Catalonia is a leading agri-food country and respectful of the environment. With this objective, the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat de Catalunya has launched a plan for the transformation and reactivation of the agri-food sector with a budget of more than 3,000 million euros to be distributed until 2032.
The plan is structured into ten transformative projects for the primary sector and is part of the Economic Recovery and Social Protection Plan activated by the Government to address the emergency caused by the COVID-19 crisis, endowed with almost 32,000 million euros.
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Teresa Jordà, it is an "unprecedented transformation plan" that aims to promote bioeconomy and align the Catalan primary sector with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2030 Agenda and the new European Green Deal.
"Economic reactivation must go hand in hand with transformation. It is about making Catalonia a reference country for the prestige of its food system, with balanced and regenerative growth in social, environmental and economic terms, guaranteeing territorial cohesion while strengthening the positioning of its production and gastronomy," explains Minister Jordà.
"Catalonia is in a position to be an agri-food powerhouse. This is a sector that, already in the crisis of the 2008-2013 period, demonstrated great resilience, has made a great effort to export and innovate, and now has also demonstrated great resistance," emphasizes the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy and Finance, Pere Aragonès.
The ten projects of the Catalan agri-food sector will be complemented by two projects promoted by the Department of Territory and Sustainability, which will increase the resources that the Generalitat will allocate to strengthen this backbone of the Catalan productive fabric to 3,900 million euros. The bulk of the budget, 2,200 million, will be executed between 2021 and 2025, although the programs will last until 2032. More than 60 million euros will be allocated to this 2020.
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1. SHORT CIRCUITS AND PROXIMITY PRODUCTS With the challenge of achieving a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system that preserves natural resources, the first pillar of the plan seeks to favor the consumption of local products by establishing short marketing circuits that allow for better remuneration for producers. The promotion of Catalan food products and the digitalization of sales channels will be promoted, with assigned resources of 35 million.
2. BOOST FOR TERRITORIAL COHESION Around 450 million euros will be used to strengthen the territorial cohesion of Catalonia, key to facing not only the consequences of Covid-19, but also the climate emergency. The aim is to provide the entire territory with adequate means to develop new initiatives that generate economic activity and employment. Irrigation, road and digital connectivity, the replacement of fossil fuels with biomass, as well as extensive livestock farming, among other initiatives, will be favored.
3. TOWARDS BIOECONOMY The third program, endowed with 200 million, will promote the creation of new value chains based on sustainability and the benefits of the circular economy. The aim is to lay the foundations for the so-called bioeconomy, that is, a system based on the production of biomaterials, biofuels and bioproducts resulting from the use of organic by-products and forest mass, as well as the fight against food waste.
4. NEW TIMES, NEW BUSINESSES The fourth action plan aims to identify new business opportunities that incentivize the generation of economic activity in rural areas and prevent depopulation. With a budget of 110 million, the goal is to create new products and procedures that allow for the conception of new businesses, promote internationalization, and also strengthen associative models and redefine the logistics of the agri-food sector.
5. FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE SECTOR In the coming years, it will be a priority to transform all traditional food production models towards a more sustainable model that allows fighting against the climate emergency and the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. 65 million will be allocated to promote a new model of agriculture and livestock that allows facing the challenge of food sufficiency without negatively affecting the climate and also promoting organic production and regenerative agriculture.
6. ADVICE AND SUPPORT To transform the Catalan countryside, it will be essential to activate a powerful advice and support program with 175 million euros. Most of this amount (100 million) will be allocated to fostering innovation in small and medium-sized agri-food companies, as well as helping them adopt the best available techniques and improve their facilities.
7. MODERNIZATION OF IRRIGATION To achieve efficient water use, it is essential to modernize Catalonia's irrigation system, with a program that will require very significant investments, equivalent to more than a third of the plan's global budget. Specifically, 692 million will be allocated until 2025, and this same figure will be repeated between 2026 and 2032. The hydraulic infrastructures that will focus the activities are the Canal d'Urgell, the internal basins and the irrigation systems of Tremp, Canal de Pinyana and Canal d'Aragó i Catalunya.
8. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION The digitalization of the Catalan countryside is a strategic piece to favor its competitiveness and achieve efficiency and sustainability objectives. Precision agriculture, which requires a lot of technology, will be vital to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to guarantee the global supply of the population. Thus, the new AgroDigicat program will be endowed with 90 million.
9. ENERGY TRANSITION The efficient use of energy and the promotion of renewable energies must also reach the primary sector, a key element in the energy transition process that has been launched. With this program, up to 400 million will be used to favor the installation of photovoltaic panels and other systems that allow the energy self-sufficiency of agricultural and livestock farms in Catalonia.
10. MORE RESEARCH To face the new global context and the different challenges of the sector, specialized research centers in the agri-food sector, such as IRTA, will be more necessary than ever. 90 million will be allocated to promote the generation of knowledge and adopt new solutions that respond to all the challenges posed.