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THE Balearic Farmers Union said yesterday that cuts in the regional Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries' budget for next year will further restrict aid to the sector and may signal the breakdown of the agrarian and food production industry in its current form.

The farmers declared “surprise” at what it described as insensitive treatment from the Balearic government. The Union said that the ministry's budget which depended on external aid both from the state and Europe, could be cut by as much as 40 percent.

On Majorca, the Union is concerned that some responsibilities hitherto undertaken by the regional ministry are to be passed to the Council of Majorca to the detriment of the agricultural sector. The farmers claim the move breaches the government's commitments to the agricultural industry laid out in the Balearic Statutes.