Jaume Ferrer and Jaume Escandell, the respective heads of the Formentera Council and the island's co-operative of farmers, have signed three partnership agreements into action. The aim of the deals is two-fold. First, to reactivate the local countryside by offering alternatives to abandoned harvests and farmable land. Second, to chart job creation strategies and innovative options in local development.
For starters, the deals put use of a newly completed industrial space in the hands of Formentera's Cooperativa del Camp. Another component of the agreement is that the co-operative will retain management rights for the 504.7-square-metre (m2) property, located in Can Bonet industrial park, at no cost and for a period of ten years.
Moreover, the Cooperativa will be entrusted with stewarding a swath of land known as Can Marroig-Can Ballet. Under the terms of a May 12, 2016 arrangement between the Formentera Island Council and Institut Balear de la Natura (IBANAT), 12.05 hectares of IBANAT-controlled land were handed over to the local administration. Today's action, which formalises that five-year agreement (extendable for an additional five years), empowers the Council to enlist the farmers' co-operative in overseeing harvests on the lot.
Lastly, the two officials formalised a deal to grant the Cooperativa temporary use, also at no charge, of farming equipment owned by the Council. The group will retain control of the following items for four years:
Equipment
Quantity
Brand
Electric forklift truck
One
STILL
Hand pallet truck
One
STILL
Low lift pallet truck
One
STILL
Tractor
One
KUBOTA
Front loader
One
KUBOTA
Seed spreader
One
SOLANO HORIZONTE
Two-row super chisel
One
SOLANO HORIZONTE
Rototiller
One
JOPER
Reversible plow
One
HIBEMA
Mower
One
MARANGONI
Spreader
One
BMC AGRICULTURAL
Mounted hydraulic sprayer
One
GAMA
Trailer
One
HERCULANO
Rectangular packer
One
GALLIGNANI
Combine harvester
One
DEUTZ-FAHR
Harvester
One
LLORENTE