Toledo (EFE).- The Government of Castilla-La Mancha is going to make almost 50 million euros available to farmers and ranchers in the region who have family farms to alleviate the effects of the drought.
Specifically, 30 million are for the affected farms and 16 million for the recovery of woody crops.
The Minister of Agriculture, Francisco Martínez Arroyo, has made these measures known to the professional agricultural organizations (opas) Asaja, UPA and COAG and to the Castilla-La Mancha Agro-food Cooperatives, at the meeting held this Thursday in Toledo by the I followed her
They will receive up to 100 euros per hectare
Martínez Arroyo has indicated that it will help farmers who have rainfed cereals and ranchers, by making the conditionality of the first pillar of the Common Agrarian Policy (CAP) more flexible, in terms of direct aid received by farmers and ranchers who They are the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, which will receive up to 100 euros per hectare.
To this end, in May an order will be published in the Official Gazette of Castilla-La Mancha (DOCM) through which the flexibility will be established, so that farmers and ranchers can include their requests in the aid application period of the first pillar of the CAP, which ends on May 31.
The Rural Development Program (PDR), the second pillar of the CAP, will also be made more flexible, so that the flexibility will be applied so that farmers and ranchers can continue with their crops and livestock production and collect all the aid, although they cannot meet some of the requirements as a result of the drought, added Martínez Arroyo.
In this sense, he explained that the rainfed crops are in a state of insufficient growth for the ear to grain as it should, they have not reached sufficient maturity for the grain to develop in the rainfed crops throughout the Guadiana, which is where the largest area of arable crops in the region is concentrated.
16 million for woody crops
In addition, the regional government is going to implement another direct aid for the recovery of woody crops affected by the drought, in this case of 16 million euros also from the PDR.
It will be a direct aid similar to the one that the regional government granted to olive growers for the damage caused by the Philomea storm in the olive grove, which will be conveyed through another order that will be published before the summer.
At that time, the effects of drought on trees and vineyards will be known, for pruning, uprooting and new plantations of olive groves, vineyards, almond trees, pistachios, apricot and peach trees.
The counselor has been optimistic about the recovery of woody crops, because, as he stressed, “they are absolutely adapted to the territory and to the extreme weather conditions” that usually occur in the region.
Although he has qualified that it is necessary to “wait and be prudent” in relation to the degree of affectation, because as he recalled when the aid for Filomena was activated, the regional government made 18 million euros available to olive growers, of which only they were used 9 million, because no more were needed.
Declaration of emergency due to drought in the Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Segura basins
However, it has clarified that in order to grant this aid it is necessary to wait for the Government of Spain to declare an emergency due to drought, which it is about to do in the case of the Guadalquivir, Guadiana and Segura hydrographic basins.
These three basins are “in an extreme emergency situation”, pointed out Martínez Arroyo, who hopes that the central government will declare the emergency due to drought as soon as possible.
As a result of the declaration, other measures may be implemented within the Plan against the Drought of Castilla-La Mancha that will join those that have been announced this Thursday.
Regarding the Tagus and the Júcar, the counselor has advanced that this Friday he will write a request to the Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, so that the emergency situation due to drought in these two hydrographic basins is also declared.
grazing by tooth
On the other hand, Martínez Arroyo has advanced that as of this Friday the cattle will be allowed to “use the teeth” of the plots in which winter cereals and legumes have been sown and that will not be able to be harvested due to the drought.
This authorization will benefit both the owners of the plots, who will not be able to harvest their crops, and the farmers, who can take advantage of the plants to feed the animals before they dry up completely, the counselor pointed out.
Although he has warned that farmers who have contracted insurance must notify the insurers before allowing access to the animals.