The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Sustainable Development, Mercedes Morán, explained this Wednesday at a press conference the details of the advance payment of the CAP that was made in Extremadura last Monday, the 16th, which represents “the first day that it is possible to do it, without delay and without withholding anything so that the money is in the hands of those who need it most,” emphasized the person in charge of the area.
Thus, he specified that the Board has already paid 32,131 files, which represents almost 80% of the total number of possible recipients of the advance, for a global amount of 130.6 million euros.
“We all know the problems that the Extremaduran countryside is going through and the CAP is a fundamental pillar of agricultural income, so for us it was essential to pay the advance as soon as it could be paid,” Morán stated.
The counselor has insisted that what the Board has put into the pockets of farmers and ranchers is “everything” that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food allows in the first year of the new CAP, where many aspects have changed, therefore who has valued the effort and work of the counseling staff to make it possible.
What has been paid corresponds to 70% of the basic income support for sustainability, redistributive payment and youth aid, Morán added.
Thus, he explained that the starting situation is 45,076 unique applications, 4,870 of which do not have basic income aid rights and therefore “are not possible recipients of the advance.”
Therefore, the data that must be considered for the advance payment is 40,206 files that do have said basic income aid rights and that, therefore, have been able to obtain the advance payment, as indicated.
Modify the strategic plan
Mercedes Morán has provided comparative data from the 2022 campaign when the basic payment advance was paid to a total of 32,127 files, data very similar to the current one, with three less files in 2022.
Thus, in the 2022 annuity there were a total of 32,127 files in the basic payment advance that received 158,778,050.64 euros, while in the 2023 annuity the advance of the basic income aid plus the redistributive payment (which would be the equivalent to the basic payment) there are 32,130 files that receive 125,924,584.01 euros.
The counselor has informed the media that, as she had been announcing, the aid amounts “are substantially lower” than expected.
“We said that this CAP was going to be the worst, the one that was going to bring the most cuts and that is what we are seeing that it has been,” he lamented, while pointing out that the negotiation that the previous government made of this new CAP “leaves a lot of be desired”.
“This was going to be the best reform of the CAP, the greenest, the one that was going to bring the most money to Extremadura, according to the previous government, and we have found that this CAP is the most harmful for our farmers and ranchers,” has manifested.
He has insisted on the need to modify the CAP Strategic Plan in 2024 to adapt it to the reality of the field. “This new CAP is not designed with the traditional way of doing things of our farmers and ranchers in mind,” he criticized.
Aids to beekeeping
To conclude, Morán explained that last week the Ministry paid the beekeeping sector aid for the marketing of honey, with an amount of 3,883,503 euros, benefiting 624 recipients.
It is a sector that “needs this support and which has also been paid quickly because we also know of its difficult situation,” he concluded.