The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment has increased the amount of this subsidy, which was set at 3.5 million euros, to 6.18 million euros, with the aim of ensuring that no applicant is left without aid due to a lack of budget.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, through the Balearic Islands Agricultural and Fisheries Guarantee Fund (FOGAIBA), has resolved in just over eight months the files of the 2023 call for applications (which ended on 28 February 2024) for aid for the creation of young farmers’ businesses in the Balearic Islands. Specifically, 139 applications have been submitted, of which 122 (83 in Mallorca, 20 in Menorca, 16 in Ibiza and 3 in Formentera) have met the requirements and have been approved with an amount of 6,185,420 euros in aid.
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More than 120 young people are joining the agricultural sector in the Balearic Islands thanks to the call for FOGAIBA aid for the creation of young farmers’ businesses
In this sense, the councillor Joan Simonet stressed that ‘the initial budget for this call, which was 3.5 million euros, has been increased, and we have exceeded the amount of six million euros in aid. Once again, the Government’s commitment to the sector has been demonstrated. The Conselleria has made a great effort to meet all the applications received and that no new incorporation to the field is left out due to lack of budget’. ‘This subsidy means that more than 120 young people are committed to farming on a farm for at least five years from the time the aid is granted,’ said the Regional Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment.
Simonet has also indicated that ‘the incorporation of young people as owners of farms is one of the most important measures and commitments of rural development of the CAP 2023-2027. Furthermore, it is undoubtedly focused on the strategic line set by the European Union to make the agricultural sector more competitive, profitable and sustainable’. The aim of this aid is to rejuvenate the active farming population, encouraging a generational changeover that will contribute to improving the competitiveness and dynamisation of the sector. It is also intended to promote employment in the agricultural sector and in the activity of the farm, as well as to improve the competitiveness of farms by adapting their production to the market, increasing the profitability of production, promoting innovation and the use of new technologies.
It should be noted that the average amount of aid per applicant in the 2007-2014 CAP was 28,500 euros, while in the previous CAP period (2014-2022) it stood at 41,518 euros. On the other hand, in 2023 it has risen to 50,700 euros on average for each young person entering the sector, a figure that represents a significant increase. In this sense, the director general of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, Fernando Fernández, stresses that ‘this fact means that the projects presented by young people this past year are better sized financially’. Fernández explains that the aid for the first installation of young farmers consists of a premium of 25,000 euros, which can go up to 80,000 euros depending on the conditions of the farm they join and the ambition of the business plan presented: ‘It increases, for example, when the project generates more agricultural work units (AWU) and higher economic returns. In other words, very basic projects receive a basic 25,000 euros, and as the business plan becomes more ambitious, the amount of aid increases’, the director general explained. The aid will be paid in two instalments: 50 % at the start of the business plan, and the rest when the plan is achieved.
It should be remembered that on 19 December 2023, the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB) published this call for aid – which had not been called since 2021 – for the creation of young farmers’ businesses for the years 2023 and 2024. With the 2023 call already resolved, the 2024 call is now pending, the deadline for applications for which began on 1 October and ends today. The budget for this call is 3.5 million euros.
The main requirements to be eligible for this aid are, among others, to be 18 years old and not to have reached the age of 40 in the calendar year in which the application for aid is submitted; to implement a business plan that demonstrates the economic viability of the farm in which they join, and to have the appropriate professional skills and qualifications or undertake to obtain them within 48 months, starting from the date on which the aid is granted.