The Spanish government has decided to cut water brought from the Tagus River to irrigate crops in the southeast of the country. Spain is one of the EU’s biggest fruit and vegetable producers, but as it faces the realities of climate change - with three-quarters of the country at risk of desertification - the government has decided to limit the flow of water from the Tagus to the southeastern Levante.
Farmers in the southeast say cutting the flow of water from the Tagus could mean the end of agriculture in the region. It could lead to 12,200 hectares of arable land being abandoned, the SCRATS farmers lobby group claims. The economic cost would also be colossal, it argues, up to €137 million a year, with 15,000 jobs lost.
Source: euronews.com