In Spain the countryside ages ...
If we add the entire concept of young farmers who are engaged in agricultural work up to 40 years of age, the percentage would be around 9% of the total. Spain is getting old ...
The reality of the countryside in Latin American countries is that many young people have integrated into agricultural production by contributing to the use of new technologies and new concepts of agricultural management, such as Precision Agriculture or Intelligent and Sustainable Agriculture. Latin American problems go hand in hand with labor shortages, due to migration from the countryside to the city, but even this disadvantage begins to be solved by technology, which provides mechanized and digital solutions to the process of harvest and post-harvest in agriculture.
In Spain, on the other hand, agricultural work is aging rapidly and statistics show it. According to the data analyzed by the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund, FEGA, in the field of European aid, only one 0,55% of the more than 750 thousand recipients of the direct benefits of the Common Agricultural Policy, in 2016 had less than 25 years , which corresponds to the 1,06% of direct payments corresponding to that period, equivalent to 3.561 million euros.
In the tranche corresponding to people receiving payments between the ages of 25 and 40, the percentage corresponds to 8,17%. So if we add the entire concept of young farmers who are engaged in agricultural work up to 40 years of age, the percentage would be around 9% of the total. Spain is getting old ...
On the other side of the spectrum, the figures show that the agricultural work is deposited in those who are approaching the third age, or at retirement age. The beneficiaries of the funds of the Common Agricultural Policy in Spain that have more than 65 years reached 38,8% of the total, receiving the 26,25% of the economic aid for the promotion of agricultural activity.
In other numbers, in addition to the age groups are the gender, although in this case the reality is more understandable, since of the 750.183 recipients of benefits, one 63% are men and one 37% are women. Although it is noteworthy that despite the fact that in almost the entire country the number of men benefiting from these direct aids almost doubles that of women, in Asturias and Galicia, women outnumber men by a large percentage.
The situation in Spain is not very different from the reality of the whole of the European Union, EU, since in the region only 7,5% of the recipients of aid for community agricultural development has less than 34 years, and the applicants benefited older than 64 years reaches 30% of the total.
Empty villages
The situation is worrying. The EU has described the agricultural sector as a key element in the maintenance of the rural environment, which represents 80% of the territory on average. This is why the Brussels-based authorities and the Spanish Government itself seek to develop public policies and economic incentives to rejuvenate the countryside, although the impact of the sector on the economy only reaches less than 5% of the workforce. As concrete measures, each EU country will be able to derive 2% of the Common Agricultural Policy funds to support the incorporation of young actors in agricultural activity, being able to opt for resources that can reach 70 thousand euros.
This problem is not new, and already between 2007 and 2014 there was the first installation of new actors in the sector, attracting more than 13 thousand people through grants that meant a disbursement of almost 400 million euros. Then, in the period from 2014 to 2020, the General Directorate of Rural Development aims to incorporate 20 one thousand young people, for which a fund of 724 has been allocated millions of euros, of which a large part comes from the European Community.
In Spain, approximately 50% of small populations are at risk of extinction. Currently, according to data from the Association of Municipalities, there are 1.286 towns with less than 100 inhabitants, the majority in the regions of Galicia, Aragón, Castilla y León.
Source: Martín Carrillo O. - Blueberries Consulting
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