The number of farmland areas declared in the Baltic countries, and, accordingly, the total farmland area, has been growing fast amid efforts to develop the parcels that were previously abandoned. Meanwhile, the amount of payments as established in the Accession Treaty was linked with the area of farmland in use at that time.
As a result, actual farmers’ revenues might decline if the procedure remains unchanged.
“Increase in the number of land areas being declared is not the biggest concern. If the revenues of established farmers decline by several percents, it will not be a tragedy. The payments that we will manage to agree on for a period after 2014 are more important. We are not satisfied with the conditions offered by the EU so far,” Agriculture Deputy Minister Edvardas Raugalas told the daily.
The average direct payment in the EU is 249 euros per hectare, while Lithuania receives 143 euros, Estonia, 112 euros, and Latvia, about 83 euros per hectare.
The EU intends to earmark 386.9 billion euros for agriculture in 2014-2020, including 371.72 billion litas for direct payments and rural development extra leeway of 15.2 billion euros.
2012 06 28
Baltic farmers discontent with EU’s direct payments policy
Farmers from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will express their indignation over the European Union’s (EU) direct payments policy in Brussels on Thursday, the Verslo Žinios business daily reports.
. / Irmanto Gelūno / BNS nuotr.
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