The drought that Spain is suffering, and that is hitting the countryside and the price of food, forces the Government to mobilize. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is already coordinating a new package of economic measures to support the sector with the aim of mitigating the effects that the lack of rain is causing on agricultural and livestock production. The meteorological situation, as stated yesterday by the department of Luis Planas at a meeting of the Drought Board, is "serious, widespread and pressing."
The aid will come in the form of a decree, indicated Agriculture, and they will try to accelerate "as much as possible." The measures that are being studied include direct transfers to those affected by the situation, tax exemptions in some rates or other types of measures to compensate for the losses that agricultural professionals are already suffering.
The Minister of Climate Action, Food and the Rural Agenda of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Teresa Jordà, was one of the participants in the meeting with the Government that was held at the Ministry of Agriculture and, after leaving the meeting, demanded approval as soon as possible this rule in the Council of Ministers.
Although the drought is widespread, the most affected areas at this time are the interior of Catalonia, where there are more than 70,000 hectares of fruit trees, and the Guadalquivir, Guadiana and Segura basins, according to the ministry. The forecasts, moreover, do not invite optimism. At the same meeting, the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet) reported that the average value of accumulated rainfall since the beginning of the hydrological year, which began on October 1, 2022, is 23.5% lower than the normal data. Furthermore, no rain is expected for the next fifteen days and, although it is still early, the summer could be one of the driest in recent years.
The drought is already significantly affecting livestock, explained the department directed by Planas, particularly extensive farming, and beekeeping. There is also cataloged affectation in the herbaceous crops of the areas most affected by the water deficit in the aforementioned basins. Pedro Barato, president of the Asaja agrarian organization, pointed out yesterday that the most critical crops are, for the moment, rainfed cereals and woody crops, that is, olive groves, pistachios, almonds or oranges, among others.
The professionals summoned yesterday at the headquarters of Agriculture demanded from the Government that this new decree contemplates direct aid to the affected companies and self-employed, as well as exemptions in the payment of taxes. They also asked that the appraisals of agricultural insurance can be expedited so that the farms are not paralyzed. Barato, for his part, called for the reorganization of European funds to increase the mobilization of Community aid to the affected sectors.
The Undersecretary of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ernesto Abati, announced yesterday to farmers and ranchers that Minister Planas is also going to send a letter to the European Commission to propose all those measures of flexibility or of an exceptional nature in the application of the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) due to the special difficulties in which Spanish crops find themselves as a consequence of the drought. The objective is that professionals do not see the aid at risk.
The last meeting of the Drought Board was on March 4, 2022. Eleven days later, the Government approved a decree with the first measures to support the agricultural sector in the fiscal, labor, financial and hydraulic fields that involved six ministries .
