The Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP) this Friday accused the Ministry of Agriculture of violating the payment deadline for farmers under the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC).
“CAP has noted with deep concern, but not surprise, IFAP’s public statement [Instituto de Financiamento da Agricultura e Pescas] regarding the schedule of payments to Portuguese farmers of European money under the Common Agricultural Policy [PAC]included in the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy, approved by the Portuguese Government,” he said in a statement.
The continent’s payment calendar for the 2023 campaign, available on the IFAP website, shows that more than 90% of payments begin in November and continue until June 2024, the confederation noted.
Farmers warned the situation would worsen woes for an industry already weakened by two years of drought and rising input prices.
On the other hand, they confirmed that PEPAC is out of touch with the reality of Portuguese agriculture and that public services with competence in the field of agri-food and agroforestry are disjointed, noting that the One Order campaign took place “without any parallel in the past. decades of the common agricultural policy.”
In this context, he recalled that farmer organizations were unable to obtain “minimum clarifications” for the timely preparation of applications.
CAP considered this situation unacceptable, demanding that farmers be compensated for this delay, given that they are at a disadvantage with their Spanish competitors.
The confederation, led by Álvaro Mendonça e Moura, wants IFAP to make every effort to speed up payments and immediately begin work on changing PEPAC, which would allow “much more direct” access to European agricultural funds in the future.
Farmers are also demanding a study to strengthen agro-environmental measures in the second pillar of CAP (rural development).
According to the calendar available in IFAP, the next payments will take place on October 27 and correspond to the advance assistance for lactating cows, small cattle and cow’s milk.
Lusa has contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and is awaiting a response.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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