Planas sees the new aid to the countryside in the face of drought as a “resolute” commitment by the Government
MADRID, 11 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has ensured that the package of urgent measures to directly support the agricultural sector to deal with the drought confirm the “resolute” commitment of the Government to support the primary sector, the agriculture, livestock and the rural world.
In the press conference after the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, in which measures with an economic impact in the agricultural field of 784 million euros have been approved, Planas stressed that these measures are “a complementary measure”, which It is “in line with the decisions that the Executive has been making so far in this legislature.”
Likewise, the head of Agriculture has stressed that the objective of the Government is to continue responding to what the agricultural sector demands, maintaining dialogue and supporting them.
In this sense, Planas has recalled the meetings that he has held in recent weeks with the autonomous communities, councilors, agricultural organizations and cooperatives, to discuss the issues that this Thursday have been addressed in the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The head of Agriculture has also commented that the diagnosis and situation of the drought is of an evolutionary nature, since Spain is experiencing “a strong episode”, after a “particularly hard” 2022.
The Council of Ministers, for its part, approved this Thursday a royal decree-law that includes a package of urgent support measures for the agricultural sector to deal with the prolonged situation of drought and the worsening conditions in the primary sector as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
In this way, the Government raises agricultural aid and those authorized by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge in water matters to about 2,190 million euros.
The measures approved this Thursday include direct State aid for the agricultural and livestock sectors, which exceeds 636 million euros, or the subsidy of up to 70% of the cost of insurance policies for drought of the most compromised crops. due to lack of rain and high temperatures. The economic impact of all the measures adopted in the agricultural field amounts to more than 784 million euros.
Of the direct aid, 355 million euros will be for the meat and dairy farming sectors, 276.7 million for agriculture and 5 million for beekeeping.
In tax matters, the properties of the owners of agricultural or livestock farms that have suffered, in the financial year 2023, a reduction in the net income of agricultural activities of at least one 20% in areas with natural limitations, according to the regulations of the European Union, or 30% in the others.
According to Planas, this measure will affect 270,000 farmers and ranchers.
From the beginning of the hydrological year, on October 1, 2022, until this week, the average value of rainfall in Spain has been 27.5% lower than the average for this period.
