Drought aid

The farmers' organisation Asaja-Balears, has accused the Balearic ministry of agriculture of favouritism when it comes to allocating aid for the persistent drought, one of the worst in modern times. Spokesman Gabriel Company said that this year, the ministry was only giving aid to town and village councils which offered to co-finance the scheme, and this was creating first and second class farmers. The aid is to buy fodder for livestock. Company said that if a farmer happened to live in a municipality which did not have much money, then he lost out on aid. Two of the municipalities which will not be receiving cash are Llucmajor and Campos, which are the worst hit by the drought. Santanyi farmers, on the other hand, will be receiving funds. The farmers will be receiving aid from other sources, however: the central ministry of agriculture has decided to bring forward half its subsidies for lost cereal crops. The money, 500 million pesetas, will be made available between September 1 and October 15, instead of December and January as originally planned.