Thousands of farmers protested against the government’s agricultural policy in Spain on Sunday.

Farmers and cattle breeders marched along the boulevards Paseo de la Castellana and Paseo del Prado in Madrid before gathering in front of the Agriculture Ministry. Many attended the rally on tractors or horseback, or in carts pulled by oxen and donkeys.

“Agriculture is dying,” lamented Carlos Bueno, secretary general of the Alma Rural campaign group that organised the protest.

Some 6,000 people joined the rally, according to government figures, although Alma Rural said there had been “tens of thousands.”

Bueno criticised the government’s agricultural, environmental and animal welfare policies, saying they “are hurting us a lot.”

Farmers take part in a protest to raise awareness about the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in Madrid, Spain on January 23.

Alma Rural has called for better promotion of goods produced in Spain and a ban on food imports from countries where the rules are less strict.

It also wants animal husbandry and hunting laws to be relaxed so farmers can fight wolves that kill 21,000 cattle every year, causing €9 million (US$10 million) worth of damage, the organisation said.

Conservative and right-wing populist parties back the organisation, and opposition leader Pablo Casado said farmers, ranchers and fishermen “should no longer be despised” in a tweet.

Spain is one of the largest agricultural producers in western Europe.

Some 800,000 people work in the country’s agricultural and livestock sector, according to official figures.