The Table of the Drought gathers in search of urgent measures for paliar the damages to the field

The Government and the agricultural sector, gathered the past 20 March in the Table of the Drought, will create a group of work to evaluate in the term of a week the possible measures of support for the agriculturalists and graziers affected by the drought, between which no descartan the financial, the fiscal or the helps 'of minimis'.

Like this advanced it in presses conference the subsecretario of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feeding and Environingingment, Jaime Haddad, the one who has chaired said Table, in which they have participated representatives of Cooperatives Agro-alimentary, of the agricultural organisations ASAJA, COAG and UPA, of the federation of regantes Fenacore, and the Ministry of the Treasury.

Haddad Required that the livestock is seeing affected, by the heaves of the piensos with which have to feed the animals by fault of pastures, as well as the cereals of winter. “We do not close the doors to any measure of support to the sector”, puntualizó Haddad, in reference to possible supports of fiscal type –like discounts of modules of the income tax– or financial –like helps to the guarantees that facilitate the liquidity or 'helps of minimis', that is to say, those that can approve a State without permission of Brussels–.

Another initiative that stirs the Government is to inject liquidity in the graziers advancing the compensations of the insurance. In this sense, remembered that Spain has a line of insurance that covers in front of the risks of the drought and that exists a principle applied by the State that “what is insurable is not indemnizable”, but, in spite of this, “something have to do” to promote measures of support to the margin of the aseguramiento agricultural. The subsecretario indicated that, in spite of the current situation, a change in the diet of rains in the weeks to come or months, could change the situation “radically”, although it detailed that there are problems by fault of harvest of cereal or heaves of costs graziers in Extremadura, Aragon or Andalucia, mainly.

Image of the Table of the Drought, summoned the past day 20 March. Photo: Union of Small Agriculturalists and Graziers.

By his part, the CE will study the request of helps by the drought of Spain and Portugal in favour of the agriculturalists and graziers affected by the drought. The European commissioner of Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, ensured to the term of a Council of ministers, the past day 20 March, that from Brussels “will use all the elements to his disposal” to attend the demands of Portugal and Spain, if it shows that they are justified. Ciolos Indicated that the subsidies that contemplate in these cases are “known” and include an anticipate of the direct agricultural helps, that could concede from the next 16 October, and the resource to a part of the helps of State, situation that would debate “case by case”. More to half term, could apply measures in the context of the helps of rural development allocated to recover the capacity of production when this sees affected by natural catastrophes, added.

By his part, Spain and Portugal added the support of other seven countries (Italy, France, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia) of the European Union to the request of helps in favour of the agriculturalists and graziers affected by the drought that suffers the Iberian peninsula in the last months. The headline of Agriculture, Feeding and Environingingment, Miguel Arias Cañete, explained that Spain wants that the direct helps to the agriculturalists, that usually concede in December, advance to October to relieve the financial problems of the exploitations.

Besides, Spain asks to the EU flexibility in the supports that concede to the sector grazier, “fundamentally in the cow nodriza”. Adding both concepts, the helps would rise to some 5.000 million euros, signalled the minister. According to Arias Cañete, in the actuality “give all the parameters so that there are performances” by part of the EU and in the national territory in favour of the affected, since the rains are 49% inferior to the average of the last years.