Simonet: ‘For the first time in nine years, the Government is once again paying this advance payment on the first day allowed by the regulations. We are thus fulfilling our commitment to the sector to advance payments as far as possible.
The Balearic Islands Agricultural and Fisheries Guarantee Fund (FOGAIBA), a body that reports to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, has paid the first advance payment of aid under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2024: a total of 9,860,112.93 euros. The payment refers to the basic aid lines of the sustainability income, the redistributive supplementary aid (small and medium-sized farms) and the supplementary aid for young people. In this regard, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, Joan Simonet, ‘for the first time in nine years, the Government is once again paying this CAP advance on the first day allowed by the regulations. We committed with the sector to advance payments as far as possible, especially in the current situation of the Balearic countryside, which is suffering the consequences of the drought. ‘We know that where the money is best is in the pockets of our farmers, stockbreeders and fishermen,’ added the councillor, who also wanted to thank the hard work done by all the FOGAIBA staff to resolve and pay out this aid quickly.
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FOGAIBA pays 9.9 million euros of the first advance payment of CAP aid
The largest item is the basic income support for sustainability (7,8452,001.41 euros) while 1,839,881.38 euros is for the complementary redistributive support. As for the supplementary aid for young people, this first payment is 178,230.14 euros. In detail, there are 3,817 beneficiaries: 3,321 from Mallorca, who will receive 8,186,968.97 euros in this first advance payment; 244 from Ibiza, with a total of 345,146.19 euros; 221 from Menorca, with a total of 1,288,161.81 euros, and 31 from Formentera, with a total of 39,835.96 euros.
‘This first batch of payments corresponds to aid for small farmers, for priority farms that already have a complete dossier and aid for young people. In the coming weeks we will be making further payments to inject the maximum amount of liquidity into the sector,’ said Councillor Simonet.
It should be remembered that the ordinary payment period for the CAP 2024 starts on 1 December 2024 and ends on 30 June 2025, but EU regulations allow advances to be paid to provide liquidity to farms from 16 October to 30 November.
This 2024 call for applications is the second CAP campaign of the new period, 2023-2027, which recognises the special characteristics of agricultural and livestock production in the Balearic Islands and compensates for the additional costs of insularity that the primary sector has to bear. For this reason, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment wanted to point out that ‘because of the convergence factor that will be applied until 2027, we will receive two million more than last year’s campaign’. It should be remembered that the CAP 2023 resulted in an increase in funding of 35.1% compared to the CAP 2022.
CAP 2024
According to the data available to FOGAIBA, 4,804 applicants have submitted 18,557 applications for direct aid in the Balearic Islands. The line with the highest percentage increase in the number of applications submitted was the aid associated with sheep and goats without pasture, with 593 applications (47.51% more than in the 2023 campaign). The aid associated with the Protein Plan also saw a significant increase of 22.22%, with 286 applications.
Once again, the most requested lines are the basic income aid and the redistributive supplementary aid.
It should be remembered that CAP direct payments account for approximately 90% of the total received from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF).
Intersectoral aid
On the other hand, last Monday, 14th October, the Intersectoral Aid corresponding to the 2024 call for applications (known as CMO Aid) was paid out.
This week’s payment amounted to 626,682.56 euros, but a total of 2,683,959.47 euros has been paid over the whole year, divided between the following lines: 3 beneficiaries of Investments in the Wine Sector, with a total of 1,704,852.23 euros; 3 files of the Sectoral Intervention Aid for Fruit and Vegetables, with a final amount of 585. 590 euros; 9 beneficiaries of aid for the Restructuring and Reconversion of Vineyards, for a total of 301,332.05 euros; and 11 cases of aid for the Beekeeping Sector Intervention, for a total of 92,184.71 euros, were favourably resolved.