Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The Regional Ministry of Agriculture and the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of Gran Canaria (FEHT) have renewed this Monday their commitment to bring local Canarian products to Gran Canarian establishments and thus “give more value to the destination and the tourist experience in the Canary Islands».
The so-called “Program of meetings with the local product” will promote in the coming months meetings between the chefs and sales of the establishments to increase the presence of the Canarian product on the tables of hotels and restaurants.
The first of these meetings will take place in a cheese factory in Gáldar, will continue with another meeting in a winery in Santa Brígida and culminate with an approach to the tuna fishery in Arguineguín.
In statements to the media, the president of the FEHT, José María Mañaricua, has valued the initiative, which has already been running for a year and a half, and has highlighted the importance of increasing the consumption of local products by both tourists and residents .
“This affects the objective that we have of protecting the landscape, the peaks and the midlands, which, ultimately, in the long run will be something fundamental in the future of tourism and the care of the destination as such,” reflected Mañaricua.
However, he has pointed out that “it must be understood that the agricultural production of the Canary Islands would not even reach 20% of the total consumption of citizens and tourists”, so it is a question, he said, of bringing top-quality products to that tourists value the experience.
As he has referred, the Canary Islands territory is “limited”, as are the agricultural capacities or the willingness of people to work in the primary sector, so the important thing, the businessman has abounded, is that the agricultural explorations that are currently in operation “persive over time” because “they help to take care of the landscape”.
“As the knowledge of certain products by hoteliers and chefs increases, the demand for that product will increase and we will learn to give greater value to what we can enjoy on this earth,” Mañaricua pointed out.
In his opinion, the products most valued by tourists are usually Lanzarote wines and cheeses, but they also come looking for other gastronomic products, such as potatoes with mojo sauce or fish.
The Deputy Minister of the Primary Sector of the regional Executive, Álvaro de la Bárcena, explained that the Government will facilitate the meetings and, among other measures, will make the Rural Environment Management (GMR) company available to those small producers who do not have the Sufficient infrastructure and requirements to trade with hotels and restaurants directly.
These direct meetings, he has expressed, will serve to continue the increase in the presence of local Canarian products in hotels and restaurants, especially in Gran Canaria, and “will push the future of the primary sector.”
In his opinion, this presence of the Canarian product “could be increased”, so it is necessary to reinforce the guarantees of supply, quality and price.
For the second meetings, explained the vice-councillor, it is expected that products such as honey, fruit and vegetables will be exhibited.
“It is very rare that there is a hotel in the Canary Islands without the presence of Canarian wines from different islands on their menus, this was unthinkable 10 years ago,” de la Bárcena concluded. EFE