On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved a legislative package consisting of three royal decrees designed to support the activities of fruit and vegetable producer organizations within the framework of the implementation of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
As part of this package, the government approved a royal decree that regulates the funds and operational programs of the fruit and vegetable producer organizations and their associations, within the framework of the sectoral intervention to achieve the objectives of the Strategic Plan of the CAP 2023-2027.
This rule provides an opportunity for fruit and vegetable producers to achieve their objectives via their producer organizations, through the possibilities for increased funding offered by the new CAP, while meeting society's demands for greater environmental protection.
The government also approved a royal decree that modifies the recognition criteria of fruit and vegetable producer organizations so that they are in line with the needs identified during the preparation of the strategic plan, which respond both to the recommendations of the Commission for the preparation of the National Strategic Plan, and to the diagnosis made in the preparation of this document. The sector will be given a four-year adaptation period.
The third royal decree approved modifies the royal decree of 2018 that regulates the operational programs of the producer organizations of the fruit and vegetable sector. The goal is to alleviate the difficulties derived from the war in Ukraine and the adverse effects of the episodes of drought and frost during the spring of the last campaign, which have affected the normal development of production in numerous Spanish regions.
This royal decree includes a series of relaxations of laws to mitigate the difficulties faced by producer organizations in implementing and executing aid through operational programs.
It also relaxes the percentage limits for certain program measures and lays down the conditions under which producer organizations may increase aid up to 70 % of the payments made for actions that may have been carried out in operational programs which have suffered a decrease in their implementation, in relation to the approved operational program.
Support for operational programs amounted to more than €275 million in 2020 (the latest year for which there is full data available and that was paid in 2021), with an average yearly increase of more than 5%. According to expectations, this evolution will continue in the next financial period.
Source: mapa.gob.es