Moldovan agency of payment for agriculture launches subsidy application for 2017

Chisinau, 27 June /MOLDPRES/ – The Agency for Intervention and Payments for Agriculture (AIPA) launched the campaign for receiving subsidy applications for 2017 today. The available subsidy amount is MDL565 million, announced AIPA director, Nicolae Ciubuc, in a press conference.

“It is a long-awaited process for agricultural producers, unfortunately, this year, too, it was delayed with the approval of the subsidy policy. Finally, it was achieved, and today we are launching this process, which will continue until 31 October 2017,” said Nicolae Ciubuc.

The delay with the approval of the regulation was linked to the entry into force of the Law on Grant Principles, which sets out the policies in the field for the next period, the raising of the support measures. “The National Fund for Agricultural Development and the Rural Environment is the most consistent state-funded fund,” said AIPA director. He added that the size of the Fund was fixed at MDL900 million, but after paying the debts for 2016, finalized in March, the available amount was MDL565 million, to “cover all requests”.

He also said that under the new law, the Regulation was to be implemented over a period of five years, offering a predictability and clarity of the subsidy process.

The financial support amount granted to an agricultural producer within one year of subsidy, cumulatively on all support measures, will not exceed the amount of MDL3 million, and for the producer groups the ceiling will be – MDL4.5 million. The farmers to request 500,000 lei support will need to submit a business plan and a certificate attesting the training course attendance. The amount of subsidies for all categories of farmers will not exceed 50 per cent of investment cost.

The state will support, through subsidies, greenhouse construction, multi-year planting, agricultural machinery purchase, livestock farming and organic farming. A novelty is the subsidizing of the promotion of products on the markets, as well as the development of rural agro-tourism pensions, but also the creation or extension of the craft units. The business of women and women entrepreneurs will be stimulated.

The new subsidy regulation provides the new system implementation for monitoring the reasonableness of investment costs as not to admit investment artificial increase and fraud.

“We expect a large number of demands from agricultural producers and we assure that we will apply similar equal treatment principles, compliance with all requirements and ensuring management efficiency, correctness and transparency of the national fund for agricultural and rural environment development,” said AIPA director Nicolae Ciubuc.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)