Spain: MAPAMA presents to the sweet fruit sector a plan that provides up to € 80M in credit lines
The general director of Productions and Agricultural Markets, Fernando Miranda, has recently presented the Measures Plan for the improvement of the sector of the Sweet Fruit to the Representative Agrarian Professional Organizations of the national scope, Agri-food Cooperatives and FEPEX. The short-term initiatives include the start-up of a financing line of up to 80 million euros in loans, as well as fiscal adjustment measures. Said Plan includes 14 measures grouped into 4 large blocks: Liquidity injection; Supply-demand rebalancing; Sector organization, and Information. Measures that provide for the modification of national regulations on the sector, facilitating the adaptation of operational programs to the current situation of the same. Likewise, the Ministry has committed itself to the sector to facilitate the development of its initiatives in the matter of constitution of Associations of Professional Organizations, proposal of approved contracts or constitution of an Interprofessional Agroalimentaria.
The presentation of this Plan is the last step of the work developed since last autumn by the group created for this purpose. To this end, extensive discussions have taken place in which representatives of production, industry, distribution, Central and Autonomous Administration, as well as experts and researchers participated. The debates addressed in a first phase the diagnosis of the situation of the sector and in a second phase the possible measures based on this diagnosis.
The document presented this March 12th includes the main conclusions of the Diagnosis and then sets out the measures. The plan consists of a total of 14 measures whose implementation corresponds to the Ministry, the autonomous communities and the sector itself. It is structured in four large blocks depending on the objective they pursue:
– Short-term measures that are in operation to inject liquidity into the sector. They consist of grants to cover the costs of the SAECA guarantees for loans of up to 80 million euros, and the request to the Ministry of Finance and Public Service a reduction in the net return index for this sector, in fiscal year 2017.
– Measures aimed at rebalancing the supply and demand of the sector, with the improvement of the contribution of the operational programs of the fruit and vegetable producers’ organizations and the rural development programs to the recovery of the equilibrium of these markets, the improvement of the control and monitoring of new plantations, the promotion of organic production and the quality of production, the promotion of consumption and the management of exports to third countries to improve access to markets and the opening of new markets.
– Measures aimed at organizing and restructuring the sector by increasing the size of producer organizations, promoting the establishment of associations of producer organizations, facilitating the creation of interprofessional organizations and strengthening the controls of the Law on the Chain in the fruit and vegetable sector.
– Expand the level of sectoral information to facilitate the planning and monitoring of campaigns.
The implementation of these measures will be monitored by the Ministry, in collaboration with the autonomous communities and the representative organizations of the sector, and an application report will be prepared and published by the end of this year
DOWNLOAD THE MEASURES PLAN FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SWEET FRUIT SECTOR
Source: MAPAMA
