Over 270 million euros to the rice sector thanks to Agea's CAP funds

Over 270 million euros to the rice sector on applications submitted from 2023 to 2026, paid by the Paying Bodies system, coordinated by Agea against an eligible area of ​​854,695.22 hectares. Of the total 274.6 million euros, the largest share, equal to 146.7 million, went to Piedmont followed by Lombardy with 112.8 million disbursements and Emilia-Romagna with 5.2 million.

In Sardinia and Veneto disbursements of over 4 million euros each, in Tuscany 342,741.21 euros and in Calabria 319,450.18 euros.

These are some of the data on the support of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) illustrated by Agea as part of the 2nd edition of Risò in Vercelli, the International Rice Festival.

For the 2026 campaign, the Agricultural Payments Agency has arranged advance payments of a fundamental portion of the support, equal to 245.17 euros per hectare (75% of the maximum amount disbursable in this phase). The allocation began three months ahead of the traditional November phenological period deadline. The process will be completed from 1 December 2026 with the disbursement of the balances (the remaining 25%), for a maximum overall amount of 370.11 euros per hectare, Agea notes. Achievement, continues the Agency, made possible thanks to the Area Monitoring System (AMS), satellite surface monitoring technology, used to exploit the information deriving from continuous observation of the land, "which allowed us to anticipate a phase which, otherwise, would have remained linked to the ordinary timing of the control cycle". A specific app was then developed to learn about the sector.

In particular, Italy, Agea highlights, covers over 50% of the entire community production with around 220 thousand hectares cultivated and over 1.4 million tonnes per year. Piedmont is the first region with 52% of the national surface area (Vercellese and Novara) followed by Lombardy with 42.2% of the national surface area (in particular Lomellina, the first rice-growing province in Europe by extension). The other Regions cover around 6% with small excellent productions such as Veneto (Vialone Nano area in the Veronese plain), Emilia-Romagna, Sardinia (Oristano Plain), Calabria (Sibari Plain) and recent 'dry' experiments in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.