Nagato9In recent months, the Canarian tomato sector has received a total of 18,04 millions of euros in public aid, what has made possible the “normal development” of the harvest in the current campaign and the maintenance of jobs in this crop.

Of the 18,04 million euros, 3,33 million euros are from the modernization line of the Rural Development Program (PDR) and POSEI funds distributed in 7,35 million euros of aid to export tomato producers, in addition to 3,26 million euros of aid to the foreign market and in 4,10 million of own funds contributed by the Government of the Canary Islands as a result of the extraordinary credit.

The Department of agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Waters of the Government of the Canary Islands has made it public, announcing that it also appears in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) the call for aid from the Community Program to Support Agrarian Productions of the Canary Islands (POSEI), for the marketing of fruits outside the Canary Islands, vegetables, ornamentals, flowers and cuttings, which will be endowed with credits worth 7,2 million euros.

From the Ministry they point out that of the 7,2 million euros, a total of 3,9 million euros is earmarked for tomato and 3,3 million target other vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants, flowers and live plants, as reported by the regional Executive in a press release.

This call for proposals, corresponding to the campaign 2015, It is financed with EU funds from the European Agricultural Fund for Agricultural Guarantee (EAGF). Regarding the marketing campaign, it will include from the 1 from January to 31 December of 2015, while the products subject to aid must be collected and marketed within the same.

Operators can also benefit from these subsidies., natural or legal persons who have their social and tax domicile in the territory of the European Union but outside the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, and that they sign campaign contracts with producers and marketing entities of the Canary Islands.

Applications for help to access these funds can be submitted by interested parties at any of the registry offices of the Government of the Canary Islands., as well as the other records regulated by the Law and in the following deadlines; in addition to products other than tomato, a contract aid application will be submitted, after the end of the campaign, between 1 and the 31 in January of 2016.

For the tomato, on the other hand, A request for help will be submitted between the 1 and the 31 July of 2015, for tomatoes traded between the 1 January 30 of June of 2015; while between the 1 and the 31 in January of 2016 for tomatoes traded between the 1 July and 31 December of 2015.

The Canary Islands Government recalled that the tomato subsector will also benefit from the part corresponding to this crop of the three million euros of the Autonomous Community's own funds provided for in the Canary Islands budgets for this year.. In this respect, He clarified that the central government, However, “has not allocated any allocation for additional aid to Canarian agriculture since the beginning of this legislature”.

In this sense, also recalled that Europe “limits the aid received for tomatoes and cannot be exceeded” an amount per hectare for “prevent decompensation” with other community areas in which this product is grown because it was considered that it could produce competition “unfair” within the EU.

Finally, He pointed out that the call document recently published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC), for the fruit line, vegetables, medicinal plants, flowers and live plants, The amount of the aid will be a maximum of 10 percent of the value of the production marketed and delivered in the destination area within a limit of 10.000 tons per year and product, except for cucumber whose limit will amount to 22.000 tons per year.

He added that when the contracting producer or marketing entity is an association, union or organization of producers, The amount of the aid will be a maximum of 13 percent of the value of commercialized production.

However, aid percentages will increase up to 17 percent and the 20 percent respectively, when products are transported by air. in the tomato, The amount of aid will amount to 3,60 euros per 100 kilos of tomatoes marketed with a maximum volume of 150.000 tons per year.