The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, Rodrigo Sánchez Haro, has valued the Porc d’Or Iberian awards as an “incentive” for a sector that contributes 500 million euros to the Andalusian economy. This has been highlighted in Cordoba, during the gala of delivery of the 30 awards of the second edition of this contest organized by the Institute of Research and Technology Agroalimentarias (IRTA), attached to the Generalitat of Catalonia, and which recognizes the results productive activities of Spanish pig farms.
Sánchez Haro has highlighted the “strategic” weight of Andalusia in the sector. Not in vain, with 950,000 animals, stands in the second autonomous community in Iberian pig census and the fifth in early pig (with 1.7 million copies). It is, as the counselor has explained, the greatest exponent of livestock in the region and the one that generates the most value. Absorbs, in fact, 31% of all production and adds more than 500,000 wages to employment.
However, the regional representative has stressed that Andalusia are dominated by extensive farms, linked to the meadow and concentrated in the provinces of Huelva, Córdoba and Cádiz. Oriented to traditional productions and linked to a sustainable model, they have highlighted, to high value-added foods covered by quality figures such as Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) Los Pedroches and Jabugo.
In view of this, the director has considered “interesting” that the awards contribute to motivate the breeders of both production systems, with explicit nominations to the extensive facilities. At this point, Sánchez Haro recalled that the regional government works on an Extensive Livestock Plan of Andalusia with the aim of improving the economic viability of farms and subsectors and associated activities. This commitment is reinforced by the Law of the Dehesa and a master plan for this agro-system endowed with a budget of 86 million euros only for the first years of execution (until 2021), an investment that complements the 119 million euros that they arrive annually through the aid of the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) to pastures and associated to livestock.
Porc d’Or Iberian Awards
The Iberian Porc d’Or awards are determined by the Reference Data Bank of the Iberian Spanish Pig (BDporc-i), which, for this second edition, has analyzed more than 50,000 sows from pig farms in Andalusia, Castilla y León, Castilla -La Mancha, Extremadura and Murcia Region. In total 27 statuettes of gold, silver and bronze have been delivered for the first three classified by each criterion (live births, birth rate and numerical productivity) and category, to which 58 nominations of 28 farms of the participating autonomous communities aspired. Three special awards have also been granted: Porc d’Or Iberian with Diamond, for the best exploitation among all the categories; Iberian Porc d’Or del MAPAMA to Health, Animal Welfare and the Environment; and Iberian Porc d’Or to the Maximum Numerical Productivity.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
➡️Interporc Spain to conquer new markets
