Last Monday, October 2, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food published the final list of the beneficiaries of the extraordinary aid granted by the Government to the livestock sector. This aid has the objective of compensating for the economic losses and the increase in production costs derived from the drought and the war conflict in Ukraine that this sector has suffered.
The increase in the price of fuel, feed and other goods necessary for this economic activity, together with the lack of rainfall in certain areas of the country, has had a great impact on the livestock sector which, together with the agricultural sector, manifested in Madrid on July 5 to demand more aid against the drought.
The aid is granted to farmers producing beef, sheep and goats and producers of cow, sheep and goat milk. A total of 332.2 million euros will be granted to 70,267 owners of livestock farms in Spain, who will receive the income in their bank accounts during the month of October.
In Catalonia, there are 2,380 livestock farms that will distribute 16.6 million euros. The final resolution, which was published last Monday, contains the definitive list of beneficiaries of this aid. This list can now be consulted on the website of the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA).
The 332.2 million allocated to this financial aid represent 94% of the total budget allocated to support beef, sheep and goat meat and milk producers.
This aid was approved by the Government through Royal Decree-Law 4/2023, of May 11. In the provisional resolution of July, it was established that the estimated amount for each species of animal would be the following:
Those farms that had a majority of eligible animals at the time of the aid application (in 2022) in the autonomous communities established as 'areas of medium drought impact', will receive 50% of the amounts planned for each species and productive orientation, while the 'zones of moderate drought affect' will receive 25%.
However, there are maximum subsidies depending on the number of animals: for cow's milk producers, a maximum of 725 eligible animals per beneficiary is established. In the case of suckler cow producers, they will receive 100% of the unit amount for the first 250 cows and 50% for the rest of the herd. Finally, sheep and goat producers will receive 100% of the respective amounts for the first 2,000 animals and 50% for the rest of their animals.
Most of the beneficiaries have already been able to observe the income in their accounts, but it has been detected that some of the owners who were part of the provisional resolution do not have their tax or Social Security obligations in order. Although in these cases, the owners have not received the aid money, this resolution also welcomes them: it offers them a maximum period of one month from the publication of the resolution to resolve it. When the deadline ends, a second check will be carried out to verify the status of these procedures and those who have everything in order will be able to receive the help.
