Asaja Castilla-La Mancha has demanded that the regional government urgently enable a package of regional aid to compensate for the sharp increase in fertilizer prices, an extra cost that affects all agricultural operations and all types of crops.
In a statement, the agricultural organization has warned of the sharp price increases that farmers are facing, particularly affecting nitrogen fertilizers, whose prices are at historically high levels.
The association has emphasized that this aid must be specific and complementary, with the aim of alleviating the financial pressure that agricultural operations are under due to the widespread increase in production costs.
In this regard, Asaja has pointed out that the aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is not designed to compensate for the increase in input costs, but to help cover the additional costs and the requirements that community regulations impose on farmers and ranchers to produce safe food and comply with environmental and animal welfare requirements.
Furthermore, it has indicated that this aid is also proving insufficient to neutralize the real income loss that agricultural operations are suffering as a result of the increase in costs.
The organization also considers that the 8.9 million euros allocated to Castilla-La Mancha from the agricultural reserve for fertilizers represents a clearly insufficient support to face the complicated situation that the sector is experiencing.
For this reason, it has reiterated that the regional administration must get directly involved and strengthen these funds with its own resources, which could reach up to 200% of the European allocation corresponding to Castilla-La Mancha, the maximum authorized by the Ministry.
Asaja has highlighted that other autonomous communities have already made progress in implementing additional measures to complement the aid aimed at the purchase of fertilizers. In this context, it understands that Castilla-La Mancha cannot lag behind and has urged the regional government to approve as soon as possible a specific line of support for farmers, adapted to the particularities and needs of the sector in the region.
"Fertilizers are an essential input to maintain the yields and productivity of crops. However, the increase in production costs, combined with market uncertainty and the evolution of energy prices and other raw materials, continues to compromise the profitability of numerous agricultural operations," they have pointed out from the organization.
In this scenario, Asaja has warned that it is not enough to recognize the difficulties of the sector: "It is necessary to adopt concrete measures that allow farmers to face the campaigns with guarantees and prevent the increase in costs from further reducing their margins."
"To maintain the productive capacity of the Castilian-Manchego countryside, sustain activity in the rural environment, and guarantee food sovereignty, it is necessary for the regional Administration to get involved and implement, as soon as possible, a line of aid with a sufficient budget allocation, clear access criteria, and a simple processing, so that the funds reach the farmers who need them," they have emphasized from Asaja.