Farmers are asking for direct aid to address the lack of fodder due to drought

The heat and the lack of rain have made the shores of the Basque Country red and left the cattle without fodder. The animals that spend the summer season in the high mountain pastures are beginning to descend into the stable, and many of them have begun to provide the animals with dry grass reserved for the winter.

In order to analyse the development and impact of droughts, a meeting of the Bureau of Climate Change and Agriculture was held today in Vitoria-Gasteiz, attended by representatives of the Basque Government, the trade union ENBA and the agricultural association of Álava UAGA.

On leaving the meeting, a shared diagnosis of the situation was made by Xabier Iraola, coordinator of ENBA, and Edurne Basterra, president of UAGA. 

Iraola has pointed out that there is a lack of water and grass in the upper grasslands due to drought, as well as the fact that the production of grass has been halved, while Basterra has stressed that direct subsidies are now needed, claiming that they cannot wait until September.