The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Carmen Crespo, announced this Thursday in the Andalusian Parliament that the European Commission is studying implementing an aid package equivalent to Measure 22, which would provide Andalusia with more funds for help agricultural and livestock farms face the difficulties derived from the drought suffered by the autonomous community.
Crespo explained that this is "very hopeful news that Andalusia has been asking for for a long time" and explained that the issue has been addressed in the EU Council of Ministers. "We are very encouraged by this measure," said the head of the branch, who thanked the community Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, "for his sensitivity to the drought."
During his speech in Parliament, in response to a question about the Fruit and Vegetable Producer Organizations (OPFH), Crespo highlighted the support of the Andalusian Government to these organizations, to which the Ministry has allocated more than 128 million of euros in aid, with a 45% increase, for nearly a hundred entities that represent professionals in the fruit and vegetable sector of Andalusia. "We are very happy with this figure, which represents progress in all provinces, and is very important in these difficult times for the sector," he said.
Likewise, Crespo has highlighted that the Ministry has obtained from the Government of Spain the incorporation into the recently approved decree of some flexibility measures aimed at the OPFH "which thus have a cushion of possibilities and if production is reduced, the aid will not be reduced. ". "We also removed the limits to prevent them from not receiving all of the aid and the crisis measures were extended, so we tried to make them as flexible as possible," he added.
At the same time, the counselor has highlighted the role that producer organizations play in the fruit and vegetable sector and has been in favor of the cut flower and ornamental plant sector being recognized as OPFH. He has also highlighted the export volume of fruits and vegetables, which amounted to 5,085 million euros between January and August of this year "with which we have increased 0.9% and means that we export 53.6% of the total value of the food industry".
In this sense, Crespo has expressed satisfaction with the evolution of the campaign and has said that "with all the aid that we are making available to the sector at this time and with the flexibility, it is going to be a much more flattering campaign, in that we are bringing liquidity to the farmer. However, he has regretted the cut in the funds of the Community Agricultural Policy (CAP) due to the management of the central government "and although we are paying 70% of the advance aid, the shame is that they have cut us 100 million annually , but we are going to move forward."
The Minister of Agriculture has taken advantage of this to encourage Andalusian producers to take out agricultural insurance. She highlighted that the Andalusian Government has increased the funds allocated to this item from 7.5 million euros to 12.5 million and recalled that the time for receiving the aid is brought forward. "We have to demand that farmers have agricultural insurance, because the inclement weather is getting worse," she concluded.
