The Coordinator of the Farmers and Ranchers Associations (COAG) reported today that a Spanish farmer receives between 64% and 73% less aid from the CAP, an average of 69%, than a French, German or British farmers.
In a statement, they stressed that the average aid per beneficiary in Spain is of $5,600 Euro while in France it is 20.936 Euro, $18.331 Euro in United Kingdom, and $15.680 Euro in Germany.
According to data from 2011 provided by the COAG's statement, there are a total of 909,000 recipients of the CAP in Spain. Meanwhile, there are 372.000 beneficiaries in France, 332.000 in Germany, and 179,000 United Kingdom.
According to the COAG, this difference is due to the profile of the people who receive the aid.
They said that only 350,000 of the 909,000 Spanish recipients are active farmers who contribute to Social Security. "This hurts our country's professional farmers because the aids are diluted indiscriminately," said Miguel Blanco, COAG's general secretary.
Thus, the COAG requested the minister of agriculture, Miguel Arias Cañete, to "advocate for a CAP reform that supports a social, professional and productive agricultural model in the decisive negotiation process that begins today in Luxembourg."
COAG stressed that the essential elements for such a model were that, "being an active farmer is the necessary requirement to have access to the new direct aid system. That green conditions do not oblige producers to abandon productive land and that Spain can have the possibility of using the highest percentage possible of volunteers coupled payments (15% nationally)".
Source: Eleconomista
