The Generalitat increases aid to livestock farmers affected by dermatosis

BarcelonaThe Generalitat (Catalan government) approved a decree law on Tuesday with urgent measures to "alleviate the effects of the successive crises" that have affected the Catalan primary sector since 2019 and that have "put at risk" its viability, according to the Catalan administration itself in a statement issued after the meeting of the executive council.

The decree approves the exemption from the fee for the health certificate associated with the movement of livestock in a situation of official declaration of illness and from the tax for the provision of veterinary services. This measure is taken to reduce the costs of livestock farmers affected by the various outbreaks detected. lumpy skin disease (DNC) that has affected several cattle farms in the Girona region. This disease—which only affects cows, bulls, calves, and oxen, with no consequences for humans—requires farms where cases are detected to slaughter all their cattle to prevent future infections.

In this regard, the Government has also approved six different lines of aid for cattle farms affected by epidemics, divided by area: subsidies for herds unable to graze, installation of perimeter fences on affected farms, compensation for losses resulting from sanitary drainage, compensation for the disposal of manure and slurry for sanitary drainage.

In addition, the new law also includes exemptions of between 90% and 95%, depending on the case, on inheritance and gift taxes and on the property transfer tax (taxes managed directly by the Generalitat) in order to promote "generational renewal in the sector," according to the statement.

The new legislation also includes administrative simplification measures for fertilizer management and fire prevention, and aid to the wine sector, among others. The decree law plans to reduce, through a discount, the fee for issuing environmental impact statements, in order to prevent it from representing "a brake" on certain agricultural projects that urgently need to be implemented. This will affect the construction of approximately 200 water supply points over the next ten years. Until now, these points could take up to a year to build, but with the modifications, this is expected to be reduced to six months.

In addition, the regulation approved this Tuesday also improves compensation for livestock farmers who lose cattle due to game attacks (for example, wolves or bones), since they will not only be compensated for the cost of the dead animal, but will also include a payment to compensate the . That is, the administration will pay the livestock farmer for the losses caused by the death of the animal, but also for the money they stop earning due to having lost it.

More government forest control

In addition to agricultural and livestock activities, the decree also modifies key points of forestry regulations. Thus, the Catalan government has introduced an article in the law that allows it to declare prevention works of general interest, allowing them to be carried out and assumed by the Administration on 75 percent of private land in Catalonia, with an estimated impact on 100,000 owners.

As a decree law, the regulations come into force provisionally, but may lapse if they do not receive absolute majority approval from the Catalan Parliament within 30 days. Catalan government spokesperson and Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, has stated that the Catalan government is negotiating with the ERC (Republican Workers' Party) and Comuns (Communists) to ensure its ratification.