The 750 hectares of controversy in Doñana are located in the Northern Crown. The law that the Parliament of Andalusia will debate in two weeks plans to reclassify these lands, which would become irrigated and their owners will be able to request irrigation rights.. Experts call for the withdrawal of the rule and an agreement between administrations to remove Doñana from the political limelight, although it seems inevitable that its approval will reactivate the conflict between the central government and the Junta de Andalucía..

The Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, opened this week to study an idea that would put an end to the controversy: that the Public Administration buy those lands to reduce pressure on the park. “If the farmers agreed, and there are resources to do so, I would not close that door,” said Moreno, asked about this possibility, before demanding “dialogue” from the Government “to seek a stable and lasting solution.”.

The Andalusian Executive had already opened up to studying the exchange route, an exchange of land with the affected farmers to keep them away from the Park.. It was a proposal by former vice president Alfonso Guerra, who for years presided over the Board of Trustees of the Doñana National Park, although the farmers rejected the idea.. Now the Board does not close the door to negotiating a purchase, as it has done with the Veta la Palma estate, artificial marshes with which it intends to expand the Park.. The operation will be closed for around 70 million euros.

The Shock Plan of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition already includes a package of 100 million euros for the purchase of farms and water rights in the Doñana area, with the aim of reducing irrigated crops in the area of the Park.. However, the Government promised to study the acquisitions on a case-by-case basis and made it clear that they would be “voluntary” offers.. This week, the Prosecutor's Office announced an investigation into water extractions in case there was environmental responsibility. More pressure on offenders after intensifying the closure of illegal wells, which these days have also confirmed the first prison sentence for a case of this type in the area.

Would farmers be willing to sell the hectares that were left out of the Strawberry Plan? Only “after the law”. “From the approval, everyone can decide what they want,” responds Julio Díaz, spokesperson for the irrigators affected in the municipalities of Almonte, Bonares, Lucena del Puerto, Moguer and Rociana del Condado.. The soils would multiply their current price tenfold, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture advanced by El Periódico de España. The dryland lands would go from being worth 13,539 euros per hectare to 140,362, according to the usual valuation.

“Those lands were already irrigated, but then they were dispossessed. And now they want to buy land from farmers with another qualification at a pittance price? “After the damage they have done?” asks the spokesperson for the irrigators, who rules out that so far there have been negotiations with the Board or the central Executive.. “The conditions are not met due to the arrogance with which the Government of Spain has administered it,” he adds..

The Andalusian PP will take the irrigation law to the regional plenary session on October 5. The party intended to approve it this week, although it has finally decided to postpone it to avoid the debate coinciding with Feijóo's investiture. When the rule goes ahead, predictably with the votes in favor of PP and Vox, the central government will paralyze the processing by turning to the Constitutional Court. And the 750 hectares of controversy will return to the political limelight.