Adios to Tobacco in Granada

Source from:  typicallyspanish.com By h.b. - Sep 15, 2008 09/16/2008

The end of E.U. subsidies mean an end to the cultivation of the crop on the Granada vega. More than 1,000 families on the Granada Vega will now have to look for a new source of income with the closure of the tobacco plantation in the area. It comes following the cutback of E.U. subsidies for the crop in the area. It ends generations of 'tabacoleras' who had worked out an income on the plains of the province for more than a century. An attempt by the unions to extend the grants has failed and both cotton and olive oil also now face cutbacks. Tobacco farmers will now however get 40% of what was their annual income for the next three years. Cheaper tobacco from Brazil and China has ensured an end to the crop in Vega de Genil in Granada, where also real estate pressure is an added theat to the land. Enditem