Country profile on rural characteristics Spain - RuDI

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Table 8: Primary sector GVA 2004 and average annual growth rate VA 2000 to2004.M€ % GVA % annualgrowth*ES 26 838,0 3,6 0,02EU25 190 666 2,0 1,26*The average annual growth rate is calculated on the basis of GVA at constant price, whereas the '2004'value provided is at current price.(Source: Rural Development in the European Union - Statistical and Economic Information -Report 2007)Farm structure in primary productionThe Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) in Spain exceeded 25 millions of hectares in 2005. Anoticeable feature is the high percentage of UAA devoted to permanent crops (17,1%),which more than doubles the EU25 average. About the half of UAA consists of arableland, while the rest is permanent pasture.The number of farms in Spain has continued to decrease in the last years, and iscurrently slightly above 1 million. More than a half of existing farms has a small size,below 5 ha. Big farms (size bigger than 50 ha) are slightly more than 9%, which is aboveEU25 average, and are generally located in the centre and south of the country. Thetrend in the last 10 years is the increase of smaller and bigger agricultural holdings, witha dramatic reduction of those of medium size.Table 9: Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) in different categories of land use2005.arable land%permanentpasture %permanentcrops %ES 48,0 34,8 17,1EU25 60,1 33,1 6,7(Source: Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey 2005)Table 10: Farm structure 2005: Number of farms, average size of farms andfarm size distribution.size %no of farms ha < 5 ha ≥ 5 - < 50 ha ≥ 50 haES 1 079 420 23,0 53,5 37,3 9,2EU25 9 687 840 16,0 61,6 31,5 6,9(Source: Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey 2005)The productivity of the forestry sector is in general lower than for agriculture, althoughvery few mountains are devoted to production activities. The forest area available forwood supply is around 40%, the most of which is privately owned (81,6%). Forest areasare interested by depopulation phenomena, with the related negative effects on itsenvironmental and social functions and threatening its existence, especially in relation tothe risk of fires. Although forests are not much profitable in terms of direct production,16
they have a marked multifunctional vocation, with a clear prevalence of preservationobjectives in the Mediterranean area, where the productivity is very low. In addition,forests environmental importance in terms of biodiversity, hydrological protection,climate change, etc. is very high.Table 11: Forestry structure: Area of forest available for wood supply and forestownership 2000.ownership %forest availablefor wood supply % public privateES 40,3 18,1 81,6EU25 72,9 9,6 64,8(Source: TBFRA 2000 Database, UNECE/FAO)3.2 Improving the environment and the countrysideThe wide territorial extension offers to Spain a great variety of landscapes andenvironmental richness. The consolidation of environmental concerns into policies andadministrations’ practices has boosted the extension of protected areas: in 2006 the areaintegrated under the Natura 2000 network was slightly less than the double of theaverage EU25 (respectively 40,9% against 22,1%). A significant percentage of the UUAand of forest areas falls within the Natura 2000 network, thus highlighting the greatrelevance that biodiversity protection and environmental concerns must have in thedevelopment of rural strategies.A high proportion of UAA (81,3%) occupies territories classified as LFA, respectively31,8% in mountain areas, 3,1% in areas with specific handicaps and 46,4% in otherareas. This proportion is sensibly higher than the EU25 average, which stands at 55,4%.In compliance with Directive 91/676/CEE, establishing measures against water pollutionfrom nitrates deriving from agricultural activities, the Autonomous Communities carriedout a survey and individuated nitrate vulnerable zones. The extension of these areas issensibly lower than the average EU25 (respectively 12,6% against 41,4%), and for themspecific programmes have been drawn, including good practices, action plans andcontrols in order to evaluate effectiveness.Table 12. Land cover in different categories 2000.agriculturalarea %forestarea %naturalarea %artificialarea %ES 50,3 18,4 29,0 1,6EU25 46,7 31,0 16,0 4,0(Source: CORINE Land Cover 2000)Table 13: Utilised agricultural area in different categories of LFA 2000.UAA nonLFA %UAA in LFAmountain %UAA in LFAother %UAA inLFAspecific %ES 18,7 31,8 46,4 3,117
Page 1 and 2: Country pr
Page 3 and 4: We are grateful to prof. Lourdes Vi
Page 6 and 7: The primary focus of RuDI is upon r
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Page 12 and 13: 3 Specific rural circumstancesIn Sp
Page 18 and 19: EU25 44,6 16,3 35,6 3,2(Source: Eur
Page 20 and 21: Table 18: Unemployment rate 2005 by
Page 22 and 23: 4 Policy principles and delivery st
Page 24 and 25: epresents the attempt to design a n
Page 26 and 27: Table 24: Public expenditure per Ax
Page 28 and 29: The law 45/2007 allows the design o
Page 30: ReferencesCarlos Arroyos. Desarroll

Country profile on rural characteristics Spain - RuDI

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