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AVIANZA PARTICIPATES IN THE CREATION OF THE MUNICIPAL LIVESTOCK-MEAT NETWORK

Avianza Municipal Livestock Network

Spain's municipalities have played a crucial role in the development of the livestock-meat chain. Their land has been used to feed and raise the animals, their neighbours have worked hard in the process from the farm to the consumer's table, and the local councils have provided the necessary facilities for these initiatives to prosper. This institutional and citizen work, together with that of the companies in the sector, has allowed the livestock-meat chain to be, for several decades, the main economic engine and structuring agent of rural Spain.

In this sense, in gratitude for the constant support provided, the six interprofessional meat organisations(ASICI, Avianza, Intercun, Interovic, Interporc and Provacuno), have launched the "Municipal Meat Network", a platform that aims to pay tribute to all those municipalities in Spain where meat has become a hallmark of their own identity.Municipal livestock-meat network"The aim of this platform is to pay tribute to all those municipalities in Spain where meat has become a hallmark of their own identity. With this gesture, the meat interprofessionals want to repay the affection received over the years by the citizens and municipal corporations as a whole and value their contribution to the development of the meat sector and the economy in general. 

In addition to paying this tribute, the "Livestock and Meat Municipal Network" was created with the aim of becoming a platform for dialogue between the private and public sectors at the municipal level, so that the Network aims to strengthen alliances with those municipalities with livestock and meat activities that want to contribute to the recognition of the chain as a lever for development. The network will be representative of the social, geographical, political and cultural diversity of our country.

How to join the Network

The interprofessional organisations are currently in contact with dozens of town councils throughout Spain, with the aim of getting them to join, a process that has already begun and which will be finalised in the coming weeks. However, any municipality where the livestock-meat sector is active can become part of the network, through the approval of an institutional declaration by the plenary session of the town councils. Interested municipalities will find all the necessary information on the website redganaderocarnica.es.

Development of rural areas

The "Livestock and Meat Municipal Network" will seek to enhance the symbiotic relationship between this socio-economic sector and the municipalities of the regions in which it operates. It should be borne in mind that livestock-meat activity plays a fundamental role in fixing the population in many localities, thus reducing the territorial gap in the country and the progressive process of depopulation of rural areas. The great livestock diversity that exists and the very conditions of the chain, which makes it easier for many people to settle near farms and businesses, has enabled areas with a livestock and meat presence to resist the challenge much better, in many cases even reversing the process.

The variety of livestock species and forms of farming also allows many of the landscapes of rural Spain to be conserved and exploited. Mountain areas are home to a large proportion of cattle, unproductive land of high ecological interest is grazed by sheep and goats, Iberian pigs form part of the dehesa landscape, rabbit farms are located in towns of less than 2,000 inhabitants and white-coat pigs represent one of the most economically profitable sectors in towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants.

The agri-food sector, and the meat sub-sector in particular, is also an opportunity to develop associated industrial initiatives in these areas where employment is generated and economic activity is diversified. In the case of the meat industry, which is the leading branch of the food industry in Spain, industrial activity is made up of 2,750 companies, including many small and medium-sized ones. These companies are preferably located in rural areas with the same difficulties of territory on which livestock farming is based.

Generator of opportunities

The livestock-meat chain contributed 42,000 million euros to the national GDP in 2019, (15,172.6 million from livestock production and 26,822 million euros from the meat industry), which represents 22.6% of the entire food sector. The meat-livestock subsector reached 28.8% of the Final Agricultural Production in 2019 and 77.4% of the Final Production generated by the entire animal sector according to the MAPA.

In terms of employment, livestock farms, the meat industry and the entire distribution and sales system generate 672,000 direct jobs. The total is divided between the half a million people engaged in livestock farming, the 97,000 workers in the meat industries and the 75,000 people employed in the retail trade. In total, it is estimated that around two million people make their living from the livestock-meat chain in our country, including agricultural production for livestock, and the sectors of veterinary professionals, animal feed, animal health, logistics and transport and auxiliary industries.

In terms of exports, the volume in 2019 reached 7,555 million euros, equivalent to the entire Spanish wood and cork industry, with a growth of 26% in foreign turnover and 15.1% in volume compared to the previous year's figures. These figures are of particular strategic importance at a time when international trade is suffering a sharp decline and where the livestock-meat chain has emerged as a guarantee for maintaining a positive balance of payments.

Meat trade has a strong counter-cyclical and resilient component, because in April 2020, in the middle of the recession, while the year-on-year rate of change of our exports for all economic sectors fell by 39.3%, meat exports increased by 13% for a value of 635 million euros.

Source: Press release Red Municipal Ganadero-Cárnica.