The territorial delegate of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Antonio Mena, has visited a turkey fattening farm located in the municipality of Oria.
This is one of the beneficiaries of aid under «Measure 22», established by the invasion of Ukraine and the rise in production costs involved. It is framed in the Order of 21 November 2022, which approves the regulatory bases for the granting of subsidies, on a non-competitive basis, of an exceptional temporary nature for farmers and livestock farmers particularly affected by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, in the framework of the Rural Development Programme of Andalusia 2014-2022.
The Regional Ministry has processed 1.5 million for Almeria, which have benefited 433 livestock farmers and farmers in the province, of which 25 have received the maximum amount of aid, which is 15,000 euros.
The aim of the aid, the delegate pointed out, is «to provide emergency assistance to farmers and livestock farmers in the productive sectors particularly affected by the war, in order to guarantee the continuity of their business activity, due to the rise in the price of inputs, the goods necessary for production».
The Oria farm visited today has received the maximum per beneficiary, 15,000 euros of this aid, 75% of which comes from the European Agricultural and Rural Development Fund (EAFRD), 7.5% from the General State Administration and 17.5% from the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. Mena has stressed that this contribution «will alleviate the losses in profitability of more than 228% that this type of farms have suffered with respect to the period 2018-2021».
Likewise, the delegate of Agriculture has emphasised «the commitment of the Ministry of Agriculture with the agricultural and livestock sector in this situation, resolving the call for aid in 17 days from the date of completion of applications, which is an advance of 92 days. A great effort on everyone’s part».
The sectors that received the most aid were dairy goats (737,238 euros) with 227 beneficiaries and citrus fruits (553,097) and 176 beneficiaries. This was followed by turkeys for fattening with an aid of 90,000 euros with 6 beneficiaries, where all have received the maximum amount of aid, the pig sector has received an aid of 63,657 euros with 8 beneficiaries, laying hens 63,657 euros, 12 beneficiaries, cut flowers 28,000 euros with 2 beneficiaries and finally the vineyard has received 1,364 euros and 2 beneficiaries.
The delegate recalled that the agri-food sector in Andalusia has been affected by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, due to the rising prices of goods needed for production, in particular for energy, fertilisers and animal feed. «This has caused serious economic disruption in the agricultural sector and rural communities, creating liquidity problems for farmers and small rural enterprises involved in the production, processing, marketing or development of agricultural products.
The increase in the cost of these inputs is proving particularly adverse for production, which for various reasons is finding it difficult to pass these increases along the chain, causing the products to be unable to find their normal outlet on the market, or else, as the agricultural and livestock sectors are more intensive in the use of energy, fertilisers, phytosanitary products and animal feed, they are particularly affected by the escalation in prices. This jeopardises the viability of farms, as well as the maintenance of the rural economy in the production areas.
The aid committed in the resolution amounts to 29 million euros, from which 7,524 farmers and stockbreeders in Andalusia will benefit.
The agricultural sectors eligible for this type of aid are citrus fruit, which has a maximum allocation of 17 million euros; the wine sector, which has been allocated 1.8 million euros, and in the specific case of cut flowers, 2.3 million euros.
In the livestock sector, dairy goats have been allocated 6.7 million euros, laying hens 0.8 million euros and turkeys for fattening 3.9 million euros. The pig sector has been allocated €4.4 million.