Cabinet approves aid for citrus, cow farmers

Citrus growers, maize growers and young cattle farmers will receive financial support, the cabinet decided on Tuesday.

The council of ministers allocated €100,000 for aid for citrus growers in communities affected by the buffer zone.

According to a written statement, the amount will be distributed as a hectare subsidy of a maximum amount of €25 per decile for the citrus growers who participated in the Optional Linked Support scheme of 2022 and who were not eligible for the plan provided for by a previous cabinet decision on December 20, 2022, which concerned citrus growers throughout land controlled by the republic, and was targeted at professional farmers, as non-professionals.

The council of ministers also approved the allocation of a total amount of €100,000 to the agricultural payments organisation so payments can be made through the agriculture ministry’s agricultural and livestock products support measures mechanism.

A total of €19,000 in de minimis aid was also approved for maize growers. It will be distributed to 28 growers, to help with the “problems faced by the agricultural sector from the excessively high price of fertilisers and increases in energy costs as a consequence of the war in Ukraine,” the statement said.

Lastly, the cabinet approved financial assistance amounting to €20,000 for the young cattle farmers group (ONAP), which will be taken from the same budget of the agriculture department.

The statement recalled that in a previous decision on May 27, 2022, the cabinet had approved 15 additional emergency measures to support the economy to deal with inflationary pressures, totalling €103 million.

The €9.5 million of the said decision concerned the support to sectors of livestock and agriculture, as well as producer groups and organisations.

Based on the plan approved by the European Commission, cattle farmer groups which had been classified by the agriculture department as “producer groups” by May 27, 2022 are expected to receive aid of up to €250,000