The Sociedad Azucarera Larios, which owns a lot of land within the municipality of Nerja, has ended land-leasing contracts with local farmers on the Maro Vega.

Some 400 smallholders are affected, most of whom use their plots simply as hobbies, although some have dwellings that used to be aperos (farming, equipment huts) on them.

According to Larios, only about 50 of the leasholders farm the land professionally and that they were told a year in advance that their lease would not be renewed. Most of these lease endings coincide with next summer..

This has been a long time coming with the company paying out indemities to leaseholders for improvements that they have done to the land to the tune of 12,000,000 euros in total. They agreed to paying compensation after leaseholders locked themselves into the Nerja Caves in protest in 1996.

Many of the leaseholders are foreign residents or from other areas around the province of Málaga and some from Granada. The company calculates that about half of the 400 smallholders are foreigners.

These leaseholders pay, on average, 40 centimes per square metre, which works out at about 1,000 euros a years for a 2,500 sq/m plot.

The company, once everybody has moved out off the 150 hectares of land, will completely clear off all the constructions and remove rubbish etc, and anything that they considered “contrary to the landscape and the environment.”

Of course, what will go in its place is the planned golf course, luxury dwellings and hotels, once the land has had its category changed to “developable.”

In the meantime, those affected have called for a meeting on Monday at 17.00h in the village community hall in Maro with the objective of forming a collective-front platform.

(News: Maro, Nera, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga – Source & Photo: E. Cabezas/Sur)

Keywords: Larios, Golf Course, Smallholders, Demolition, Leases Terminated, Farmers, Aperos, Dwellings

news, andalucia, malaga, costa del sol, axarquia, nerja, maro, larios, golf course, smallholders, demolition, leases terminated, farmers, aperos, dwellings

Reader’s comment: “Yep that’s the answer. Clear the farmers that produce food for the markets. Import foods, as per agreements signed from north africa in exchange for unsustainable fishing.
Those that actually lived on those plots. Tough luck. Move elsewhere.
What we need are more dineros. Mostly taxed, of course. Golf courses. Hotels. Rather nice houses with pools. Bars and restaurants. The downside of disposing of any sewage and rubbish will be sorted. No worries. Traffic and water consumption. The planners will have it planned. From the borders of Gibraltar to France make it a landscape of tourism and service industries. The coffers of both state and local council will swell.
Who needs local food. Foods from abroad are just as good and cheaper wholesale.” – PB Storey