Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has assured that the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represents a great opportunity for support for the fruit and vegetable sector to advance in the sustainability of the European production model.
Article continues below
Planas has stressed that the new CAP maintains recognition of the specificity of typically Mediterranean sectors, such as fruit and vegetables. Thus, he has emphasized that the current line of specific aid for this sector is maintained, the financing of operational programs of producer organizations without a budget ceiling.
The minister pointed out that in 2020 the ministry enabled a volume of aid in this chapter of 275.5 million euros financed by the EU, and has assured that this amount must be the base, and that this line of financing must be used more in the future.
The minister has also referred to the achievement of a historical claim of the sector, and that is that from next year and progressively it can be included in the basic payment regime of the CAP.
Luis Planas inaugurated Fruit Attraction 2022, a reference meeting for the sector that is established as the main tool for the global marketing of fruit and vegetables.
During the act, the minister underlined that fruit and vegetables constitute the most relevant agricultural sector in Spain, in terms of production, added value, export vocation, job creation and population fixation in rural areas. He has underlined that the quality and excellence of the productions, behind which there is a great work of the farmers, has led Spain to be an international benchmark in this sector.
Specifically, fruit and vegetable production in Spain stands at around 28 million tonnes, with an average production value of over 15,000 million euros, which places the country as the leading producer in the European Union and the third in the world.
In addition, it has a clear export vocation, since more than half of the production is destined for foreign markets, worth almost 18,400 million euros and a positive balance of the trade balance of more than 13,400 million euros, in 2021 .
In relation to the effects that adverse weather events have had on fruit and vegetable production, the minister pointed out that the agricultural insurance system guarantees the income of producers. In fact, compensation for agricultural insurance to the fruit sector has reached this year, until the end of August, the record figure of 245 million euros.
In this regard, he recalled that the ministry has recently approved an extraordinary increase in support, with which this year 275.7 million euros are allocated to subsidize agricultural insurance. In particular, the subsidy for insurance that has started contracting as of September 1 of this year, which includes loquat and other fruit insurance, has been increased by 10 points.
In addition, he recalled the aid recently approved by the Government to compensate for the losses caused by the frosts of last April in the fruit centers of the producer organizations, with a line of 12 million euros.
The minister also highlighted the opportunity of differentiating productions and providing them with greater added value, in accordance with quality and sustainability commitments. In this area, he has encouraged progress in ecological matters, where Spain is already one of the major European producers. ■
A clipper system will move quickly across the northern Plains into the Midwest Friday and the Northeast by Saturday, bringing a wintry mix of rain and snow showers ahead of a sweeping cold front.