Spain’s cabinet today approved measures worth more than two billion euros to
alleviate the impact of a prolonged drought that has hit its key agricultural sector.
The country’s water reserves are on average below 50 percent of capacity, while
levels have fallen to roughly 25 percent in the two worst-hit areas –- Andalusia in
the south and Catalonia in the northeast.
The lack of rainfall has been catastrophic for the agriculture sector in Spain,
which is the world’s biggest exporter of olive oil and the European Union’s
biggest producer of fruit and vegetables.