Catalan beekeepers and rabbit breeders can apply for €2.3M until October 26

The Generalitat has opened an extraordinary call for €2.3M to compensate for productivity losses in the beekeeping and rabbit breeding sectors. Applications can be submitted until October 26, 2026.

Catalan beekeepers and rabbit breeders can now apply for an extraordinary aid line worth €2.3M, as published by agrodigital.com. The Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (DARPA) of the Generalitat has proposed this to compensate for part of the productivity losses recorded in recent months and to provide liquidity to the farms.

Of this total, €1.5M is allocated to beekeeping and €800,000 to rabbit breeding. The application period opened on October 10 and closes on October 26, 2026, with electronic submissions through the usual channels of the Generalitat.

Eligible are the holders of beekeeping and rabbit breeding farms located in Catalonia, registered and active in the Livestock Farm Register, provided they meet the requirements of the call. For a beehive, the minimum is 50 hives.

Professional beekeepers who move their hives to take advantage of different flowerings, known as transhumance, can receive up to €16 per hive. Other farms that meet the requirements can apply for up to €10 per hive.

In rabbit breeding, the farm must have at least 15 breeding females and the expected amount reaches €8 per animal. This amount may be adjusted according to the number of applications submitted and the available budget.

To calculate the amount, both the female rabbits and the breeding males will be taken into account, as well as the animals intended to replenish the breeding stock. The calculation will be based on the last census declared between January 1, 2026 and the day before the publication of the call.

Only animals that do not exceed the authorized capacity for each farm in the Generalitat's livestock management system, known as GTR, will be counted. This is a detail worth reviewing before submitting the application.

The Catalan beekeeping sector has lost ground in recent years. According to the census of 2026, there are 1,090 farms, an 8.3% decrease from 2022, and the number of hives has dropped by 12,359 units, a 9.9% decline.

The Agricultural Accounting Network of Catalonia (XCAC) records negative economic margins in beekeeping between 2018 and 2024, with average losses of €5.51 per kilogram of honey and €44.42 per hive, including the cost of family labour.

In rabbit breeding, the decline is even greater. The 326 farms existing in 2026 represent a 65.9% decrease from 2014, and the census has fallen by 318,112 rabbits, a 35.3% drop. The same accounting network reports average annual losses of €0.55 per rabbit between 2018 and 2024.

Anyone with a farm in these sectors in the province must ensure that they are listed in the Livestock Farm Register and that their census is up to date before October 26, 2026.