`Andalusian Officials Criticize Loss of Funding for Farmers in Proposed Ag. Policy - Olive Oil Times
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Andalusian Officials Criticize Loss of Funding for Farmers in Proposed Ag. Policy

By Ephantus Mukundi
Jan. 7, 2022 08:28 UTC

Half of Andalusian farm­ers and ranch­ers could lose funds under the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food’s pro­posed national strate­gic plan to imple­ment the Common Agricultural Policy, a local senior offi­cial has warned.

“Fifty-three per­cent of Andalusian farm­ers and ranch­ers are going to lose funds with the Common Agricultural Policy pro­posed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,” Carmen Crespo, the Andalusian Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, told the autonomous community’s par­lia­ment.

See Also:European Parliament Approves CAP Reform Amid Strong Opposition

Crespo warned against the adop­tion of the pro­posed CAP, which would come into force in 2023 and run through 2027, dur­ing a ques­tion and answer ses­sion to address the regional government’s con­cerns about the fed­eral government’s strate­gic plan.

“There is no good CAP for Spain if it is not good for our region,” Crespo said.

She added that farm­ers of rain­fed herba­ceous crops, which cover 750,000 hectares in the autonomous com­mu­nity, would lose between 30 and 45-per­cent of their fund­ing.

On the other hand, farm­ers of irri­gated herba­ceous crops may see their fund­ing fall between 25 and 50 per­cent.

Additionally, 700,000 hectares of olive groves in Andalusia – slightly less than half of the autonomous com­mu­ni­ty’s total – risk los­ing fund­ing. Although, only one per­cent of Spanish olive farm­ers are expected to lose fund­ing under the pro­posed national strate­gic plan.

Crespo also warned that the ecoscheme mod­els pro­posed in the cur­rent plan would mean that 40 per­cent of Andalusian farm­ers and ranch­ers would lose between 10 and 50 per­cent of their fund­ing.

The ecoschemes are a new com­po­nent of the CAP. They are meant to com­prise 25 per­cent of each country’s strate­gic plan and reward farm­ers for con­vert­ing to organic agri­cul­ture and other envi­ron­men­tally friendly prac­tices.

Instead, Crespo called on the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to con­sider the 12 ecoschemes pro­posed by Andalusian author­i­ties, which she argued would be more rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Andalusian agri­cul­ture and would mean fewer farm­ers lose fund­ing.

Crespo fin­ished by remind­ing the ses­sion that Andalusia’s agri­cul­tural sec­tor ​“has given its heart by sup­ply­ing the mar­kets of half the world dur­ing the Covid-19 pan­demic.”

According to the Andalusian min­is­ter, the autonomous community’s agri-food exports had exceeded €10 bil­lion in the first 10 months in 2021, a record-high fig­ure and an 8.4‑percent increase com­pared to 2020.

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