The Ministry of Agriculture registers more than 238,000 applications for aid from the CAP for the 2018 campaign

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development has registered 238,301 applications for aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2018 campaign, as reported by the Minister Rodrigo Sánchez Haro at a press conference in Seville, which, in addition, has presented the mobile application of the InfoPAC Board “so that the beneficiaries can be better informed about the processing of the aid”.

The applications received include support for the income of farmers and ranchers, through the basic payment, the green payment, associated grants or even the additional payment for young people; and compensations for beneficial practices for the environment (agro-environmental, ecological) or for producing in areas with limitations.

Sánchez Haro has placed special emphasis on increasing the number of applications for additional payments to young farmers and ranchers compared to the previous season, since 2,051 have been received, 28% more. “Already last year these applications for young people experienced a rise of 9% over 2016 thanks to the unprecedented momentum that the Junta de Andalucía is giving to the generational change in the field,” he stressed.

Of the total registered applications, Jaén concentrates more than 89,000 (37%), followed by Córdoba, with almost 41,500 (17%); Granada, with 36,400 (15%); and Seville with 29,200 (12%). The rest is shared between Málaga, with 19,100 (8%); Huelva, with 7,800 (3%); Cádiz, with 7,700 (3%); and Almería, with 7,100 (3%). The majority of applicants, 94%, are natural persons, while 60% are men and 40% are women.

82% of the beneficiaries have submitted their applications through the general scheme (197,396 applications) and 17% (40,905) have chosen the scheme of small farmers, ie beneficiaries who receive up to a maximum of 1,250 euros of subsidy. According to the counselor, “fewer and fewer people take advantage of the simplified scheme for small farmers, since, on the one hand, the minimum payment of 100 to 300 euros has been raised in 2017 and on the other, it entails serious problems in case that the real surface does not coincide with the declared, so many have chosen to go back to the general regime.

Likewise, there are more than 51,000 requests that are oriented to the conservation of the environmental goods of the rural Andalusian territory (agro-environmental, ecological and areas with limitations).

This campaign of the Unique Application 2018 has had an extension of the term of presentation of 10 days more, before the request of the agrarian organizations. Farmers needed more time to prepare their requests, as reported by Sánchez Haro, due to the “delay in making decisions on the plantations because of the drought that has suffered in Andalusia until the month of March.”

Other autonomous communities have extended this deadline until May 15, but “in Andalusia, with the agreement with the sector, has been closed before to begin controls without further delay and ensure the maximum number of payments in the October advance. Our plan is to be able to make the ninth consecutive advance effective since Brussels authorizes them, “the councilor concluded.

Andalusia is the largest paying agency in Spain and one of the largest in Europe, managing each year about 1,400 million euros of direct aid, plus those for markets (about 100 million) and rural development (about 270 million). Some incentives that benefit around 240,000 people in Andalusia, and that are not only a fundamental support for income, but also compensation for maintaining environmental goods and services, among other issues.

InfoPAC App

During the press conference, the adviser Rodrigo Sánchez Haro has also presented the mobile application InfoPAC, designed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development and that is already available so that farmers and ranchers can check the status of their Unique Application and the of your payments.

Through this app, which can be downloaded from today on the Android platform and will be available soon for iPhone and iPad devices, “we provide information quickly and easily to applicants for aid,” said the counselor, who has added that through their mobiles or tablets they can know the status of their Unique Request file, the incidents that they could present and check their payments “.

The Minister stressed that with this initiative, the Ministry “wants to give a boost to the improvement of the management and control of aid from the CAP. One more step to take full advantage of digital tools for the benefit of our agriculture.

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