The Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA) has allocated 13,841,722 euros from the national basic payment reserve of the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) to 2,506 farmers and ranchers who start their activity, corresponding to the 2021 campaign.
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The average allocation per beneficiary reaches 5,523.43 euros.
This allocation is one of the measures contemplated in the first pillar of the CAP to support young farmers who meet certain installation and training conditions established in the regulations.
85% of the beneficiaries of this payment, 2,129 farmers and ranchers, are young people who have received a total allocation of 11,825,058.48 euros (5,554.28 euros on average per beneficiary).
Likewise, the national basic payment reserve has granted other farmers and ranchers who start agricultural activity a total of 2,016,663.02 euros, to be distributed among 377 beneficiaries, which represents an average allocation of 5,349.24 EUR per beneficiary .
These data consolidate the growth trend in payments from the national reserve observed in the 2015-2021 period with respect to the 2007-2014 CAP.
Thus, in this last period, basic payment rights have been assigned to 23,604 farmers and ranchers for an amount of almost 123 million euros, with an average of 17.5 million euros per year, compared to the five million of the previous period.
Compared to the annual average of 1,050 young people who received rights from the reserve in the period 2007-2014, between 2015-21 the annual average of young beneficiaries of this aid has been 2,949.
The results of the allocation of the national basic payment reserve in the 2021 campaign thus confirm the proper functioning of this mechanism as a fundamental tool for income support in the framework of the incorporation of young farmers and ranchers in Spain.
This important role will be maintained in the next application of the CAP in the 2023-2027 period, since the National Strategic Plan presented by Spain and which will be approved by the European Commission in the coming weeks, maintains the prioritization of young farmers in the allocation of the national reserve of the new basic income support for sustainability, which will replace the current basic payment scheme. ■