3 million euros are earmarked for aid to livestock farmers for the purchase of feed for productive livestock.
There will also be one million euros for inputs invested in the winter and spring sowing campaign for cereals, legumes or fodder crops
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The Consell de Govern has today authorised the Balearic Islands Agricultural and Fisheries Guarantee Fund (FOGAIBA) to spend four million euros for the call for aid to the agricultural sector to feed livestock and ensure the continuity of farms in the Balearic Islands and thus cope with the drought of 2024. It should be remembered that on 13 February, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment signed a resolution recognising the current situation of meteorological drought in the agricultural sector of the Balearic Islands.
This amount will be distributed as follows: three million euros will be allocated to the call for aid for livestock farm owners for the extraordinary purchase of food for production animals on their farms, and one million euros will be allocated to aid for farm owners for inputs invested in the winter and spring sowing campaign for cereals, legumes or fodder.
It is important to highlight that the rainfall deficit from September 2023 to December 2023 seriously affected several agricultural sectors in all the municipalities of the Balearic Islands, especially the livestock sector, with a marked effect on pasture production. The drought is causing a significant reduction in yields in this sector since in this type of farm livestock is fed mainly with feed produced on the farm itself and with extensive use of pasture in the case of herbivores. These conditions threaten the viability and continuity of extensive sheep, goat, cattle and pig farms, given the lack of feed availability.
In addition, the lack of rainfall, together with an average temperature increase of 2.2 °C in October, an increase of 1.6 °C in November and an increase of 0.9 °C in December, has had an impact on the vegetative cycle of the crops since, during germination in the soil, they did not have enough moisture to germinate or could not absorb enough soil water for proper grain development and biomass production.
For all these reasons, it has been considered necessary to establish a line of aid for livestock feed in order to ensure the continuity of the farms.