Farmers reach Madrid in protest drive calling for drought relief

Catalan farmers were part of a hundreds-strong convoy that arrived in Madrid on Wednesday to demand drought relief from the Spanish government. 

The group Unió de Pagesos announced on social media that they were part of a group of 200 tractors and 500 farmers from around Spain that arrived in the Spanish capital on Wednesday after starting their journey on Monday. Dozens of the tractors were those of Catalan farmers.

The protest arrived in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to call on the central government to specify how aid will be distributed among the sector. The relief was already mentioned in a government decree approved to deal with the drought. 

Coordinator for the Unió de Pagesos union, Joan Caball, pointed out that the financial aid they're looking for has already been approved and said the fact that an election is coming up soon is "not an excuse."

Caball said on Monday when the group began the protest drive that the farming sector has suffered "double" during the drought, as it has neither rained nor have they been able to irrigate crops as much as they would like due to water restrictions imposed. 

Catalan farmers have seen the worst drought in all the Iberian peninsula together with farmers from the Seville area of Andalusia, Caball pointed out, before lamenting the lack of speed of action from the Spanish government.