Poland to get EUR 32.6 billion EU farm aid

The EU Commissioner for Agriculture said during a visit to Poland that the country will receive about 150 billion EUR 32.6 billion in EU funding for farms in the years 2021 -- 2027.

Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski also praised the importance of small farms, not just for Poland but globally.

Small farms with an area of up to 2 hectares account for 12 percent of the world's agricultural land and produce 35 percent of food for the entire world, according to Wojciechowski.

If small farms were liquidated, and their total area was incorporated into large farms, global food production would shrink by 35 percent, Wojciechowski said on Sunday in the village of Gorno, southern Poland.

Wojciechowski said in the years 2021 -- 2027, Poland would receive around 150 billion EUR 32.6 billion for agriculture, including 10 percent for small and medium-sized farms.

If we consider that there are 14.5 million hectares of agricultural land in Poland, this means over PLN 10,000 EUR 2,174 for every statistical hectare of Polish agricultural land and over PLN 120,000 EUR 26,200 for every statistical Polish farm, he said.

Wojciechowski said that a total of 4 million had already been liquidated in the EU, despite the fact that the liquidation of farms had to be stopped. There were 14 million farms and now there are 10 million, he said.

He said Poland had been the only EU country to have decided to introduce subsidies for fertilisers in order to compensate farmers for price rises.

In 27 EU states, the prices of fertilisers have gone up. Poland is the only country to offer assistance to farmers to combat the impact of their price growth, he said.

In mid-April, the European Central Bank approved a Polish subsidy program valued at PLN 3.9 billion EUR 847 million for the agricultural sector. The beneficiaries will be able to receive grants from PLN 500 EUR 108.6 per hectare of arable land and PLN 250 EUR 54.3 per hectare of grassland or pasture. The aid claimed will be for an area of 50 hectares.