Support measures for the primary sector for the use of fertilizers
Under Royal Decree Law 20/2022, of December 27, the Government approves a series of measures in response to the economic and social consequences of the War in Ukraine and in support of the reconstruction of La Palma, and another series of situations of maximum vulnerability.
The Royal Decree Law, within its Title II, includes the “Support measures for the primary sector”, which are a series of aids for the increase of the costs that farmers have suffered for the use of fertilizer products. These aids will be considered direct subsidies in accordance with article 22.2 b of the General Subsidies Law.
It is expected that the natural or legal persons who own farms that have remained eligible for the collection of direct aid from the CAP in the 2022 campaign will be beneficiaries of the aid have permanent crops and arable land surfaces in said campaign.
In the case of the Canary Islands, the beneficiaries of the aid will be the natural or legal persons who own agricultural holdings with areas of arable land and permanent crops included in the Register of Agricultural Holdings as of May 31, 2022, for said CCAA.
The number of hectares of each beneficiary will be determined ex officio by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and will correspond to the determined area of permanent crops and arable land, excluding fallow ones and temporary pastures.
It is an imperative requirement to be a recipient of these aids to be up to date with compliance with tax and Social Security obligations.
The aid will amount to a maximum amount of 300,000,000.00 euros, conditional on the existence of adequate and sufficient credit at the time of the award decision.
The maximum total amount of aid will be granted per eligible hectare, differentiating between rainfed and irrigated.
The maximum unit amounts are as follows
- Dryland area: 22 euros per hectare
- Irrigated area: 55 euros per hectare.
Aid will not be granted when the amount to be received is less than 200 euros. And they will be granted up to a maximum of 300 hectares per beneficiary, giving priority to irrigated land over dry land.
The dryland and irrigated area will be the one declared in the single application for the PAC 2022 campaign, and determined after the pertinent controls carried out by the CCAAs.</p >
These aids will be instructed by the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund and will be granted ex officio by resolution of the holder of the Presidency.
The beneficiaries of this type of aid are obliged to avoid, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, passing on the amount equivalent to the subsidy received to the sale prices. It is expected that, in order to verify the effectiveness of this palliative measure of the rise in costs, a follow-up of the evolution of market prices will be carried out.
According to published statistics, it is expected that close to 250,000 farmers will be able to access this economic aid package in Spain.
You may be interested in: “Department specialized in Agrarian Law “
Patricia Prendes
Director of the Department of Agrarian Law
02/17/2023
