SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Governing Council approved this Thursday the decree law that regulates the direct granting of subsidies aimed at alleviating the difficult economic situation that certain agricultural, agri-food, livestock and fishing subsectors are going through, as a result of the health crisis. This decree law will be sent to the Parliament of the Canary Islands for its validation.
The maximum amount of the credit destined to the financing of the regulated subsidies amounts to 21,637,242 million euros of the budget of expenses of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries for the 2021 annuity.
The serious situation created by the impact of COVID-19 on the agri-food and fishing sector is of the utmost urgency for the adoption of extraordinary economic management measures to mitigate the effects of the sudden decrease in activity, in order to remedy the negative results and sustained effects of the current crisis.
Among these measures is the possibility of granting direct subsidies to the owners of agricultural and livestock farms and actors in the agri-food and fishing sector with economic difficulties in order to avoid the disappearance of a basic activity for the islands.
In addition, it is also intended to serve as a stimulus measure that favors the reactivation of rural areas of the Canary Islands, enabling consumers to continue to have quality food produced on the islands and with the greatest guarantees of safety.
The subsidies for goat, sheep, pig, bovine, rabbit and poultry farms amount to 7.6 million euros. They must appear in the Canary Islands Livestock Farms Registry with an updated census in 2021 and with at least 5 Major Cattle Units (UGM).
For the agricultural exploitations destined to the tomato and cucumber crops the aid amounts to 5 million euros. For other agricultural productions it will be 1.7 million euros.
The farms must be registered in the General Register of Agricultural Production (REGEPA) as producers of the crop for which they request the aid and must have been beneficiaries during the last 2021 campaign of the POSEI aid.
The shipowners will have a subsidy of 4.3 million euros and the fishing vessels of which they are shipowners are registered in the General Registry of the Fishing Fleet and that belong to the modality of minor gear or tuna pole with port in the Canary Islands, among others.
In the case of cheese factories, the aid amounts to 1.2 million euros and holders who have been beneficiaries during the 2020 campaign of Action III will be eligible for them. 4: “Aid to the dairy production of beef of local origin”, subaction III 4.1 “Aid to the dairy industry” and Action IIl.6, subaction III.6.1 “Aid to dairy industries and artisanal cheese factories, and Action III 6, “Aid to the dairy production of goats and sheep of local origin” and subaction III.6.1: “Aid to the dairy industries and artisanal cheese factories”, of the POSEI. In addition, they have transformed into cheese an amount equal to or greater than 500,000 kilos of milk during the 2020 campaign.
For wineries, the subsidy has an item of 1.7 million euros. The owners of the wineries that have been beneficiaries during the 2020 campaign of Action I.6, “Help for the transformation and bottling of wines with protected designation of origin (PDO) produced in the Canary Islands” of the POSEI will be eligible.