Geography of the Basic Payment System in Spain
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Abstract
The Basic Payment System is a system of aid to farmers decoupled from production. Farmers receive direct subsidies based on the value of an allocation of payment rights referenced in the application of the regionalization of aid.
In this paper we analyze the data referring to the Basic Payment System (obtained from the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund), taking as reference the year 2016 in Spain.
The statistical analysis has been carried out from a quantitative and non-experimental, descriptive and qualitative analytical methodology, and has allowed an approximation to the social, economic and territorial reality of these aids.
In the first place, the data reveal the high weight of the Base Payment with respect to the rest of the aid and measures of the CAP (the basic payment system represents 36% of the total aid in Spain).
Second, the data show the presence of a strong masculinization (62.7% are men) and aging (38.8% are over 65) of the recipients of the Basic Payment System, in addition to a testimonial presence of young people in the agricultural sector.
Thirdly, it highlights the enormous weight of the small recipients of the base payment (those who receive less than 1,250 euros), which, in the Spanish case, reach 23.9% of the total but on the other hand, they only receive 3.45% of the budgetary amount of this aid scheme.
Finally, the existing territorial imbalances of this aid regime and the absolute absence of interterritorial solidarity are highlighted, despite the non-discriminatory nature of these measures.