Spain's horticultural sector considers EU aid insufficient

The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama) met yesterday with organisations and agricultural cooperatives, unions and representatives of the autonomous regions to study the effects of the Russian ban and try to find solutions, as so far almost all affected sectors consider that the measures adopted by the European Commission have been insufficient.

According to the Magrama, sectorial representatives are to maintain successive meetings with the Secretary-General for Agriculture and Food, Carlos Cabanas, in which the decisions made to date by the European Commission (EC) will also be analysed. Last Friday, the EC approved more flexible conditions for the distribution of the 29.7 million Euro in aid for the withdrawal of peaches and nectarines, allowing not only for the fruit to be used for free distribution, but also composting.

According to a statement from FEPEX, "the measures adopted for peaches and nectarines merely extend the financial assistance from the Union for withdrawals from 5 to 10% of the production used for free distribution, which is currently unable to absorb the current surpluses." They also claimed that "the Commission's decision was taken without considering the conclusions of the meeting of experts from the Member States, or that the Russian ban has been imposed in the period of maximum production, as during the months of August and September, peaches and nectarines are the European Union's most exported horticultural products to the Russian Federation, with a total of 61,832 tonnes."

FEPEX believes that the EuropeanCommission should expand the scope of the measures to other products of highsocial and economic interest that are currently severely affected by theRussian ban, such as plums and melons, to keep the list open for the inclusion ofother products as their campaigns start, and for the Regulation of exceptionalmeasures applying to peaches and nectarines to be the same as that proposed forother products in the text already presented to the Member States.

The agreement of the Management Committee, which brings together experts from the Member States and the EC, says that the aid should focus on the withdrawal and free distribution to food banks, schools, hospitals and the like, "but also for other purposes," such as compost or manure, and non-food uses.

The aid had been announced a day earlier, along with an additional 3 million Euro for promotion, aimed primarily at Spain (with 1,132,495 Euro), Italy, Greece and France.

At the meeting, the Commission also presented the draft for the 125 million Euro in aid for certain perishable vegetables and fruits announced on 18 August, and whose final text will be published next week.

The Russian government, as reported last Thursday, has excluded some products from the ban due to the impact their absence would have on the population, such as milk and lactose free milk, potatoes, onions, hybrid sweet corn and peas, among others.

Protests and threat of new demonstrations

This week, a number of demonstrations from fruit and vegetable producers have taken place to protest against the effects of the Russian ban on the markets and to request grants to minimise its impact on the sector.

For their part, the most affected regions have analysed, together with their respective agricultural sectors, the situation created by the embargo, and have also estimated what the economic consequences will be.

In the case of the Region of Valencia, it has announced that they will request citrus, kakis and pomegranates to be added to list of horticultural products that the European Commission will grant aid to.