It is time to join forces and for all sectors to help, and the food sector is not lagging behind. This is what Red Eléctrica and the Federation of Rural Women's Associations (FADEMUR) aim to do, by setting up the initiative #Alimentos_Solidarios (Food Solidarity) to help groups in need and to support local producers affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

This initiative has a double objective. On the one hand, to help farming businesses that are suffering  financially due to the closure of restaurants, bars and other distribution outlets where they used to sell their products. On the other hand, to offer support to institutions that assist families and vulnerable groups at risk of exclusion during this crisis.

The initiative was launched last week and has already sent 1,200 portions of cheese, 140 dozen eggs, 3,300 kg of tomatoes and more than 4,000 portions of meat to different towns in Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Aragon. These are fresh, high quality foods from local producers that have been donated to Red Cross centres, Cáritas, the Banco de Alimentos de Zaragoza (Zaragoza Food Bank), Mensajeros de la Paz, Almería Acoge and CEPAIM.

For this purpose, FADEMUR –in collaboration with the Unión de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (Union of Small Farmers and Stockbreeders, UPA) – distributes Red Eléctrica's economic aid among the agricultural and livestock producers most affected by this situation. The selection of the producers is carried out by giving priority to smaller family farms, as well as those run by women. Specifically, FADEMUR acquires quality foodstuffs produced in these businesses, thereby compensating their production costs and reducing their financial losses.

Subsequently, Red Eléctrica and FADEMUR donate this food to a social entity located near the place of production, in order to minimise the carbon footprint produced by transport. In the next few days, '#Alimentos_Solidarios' plans to distribute 2,700 meat rations between the Banco de Alimentos de Zaragoza and the Red Cross homes for the elderly in Castilla y León.