About 2,500 applications for subsidies have been submitted to the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture this year, IPN reports, quoting the Agency’s director Petru Maleru. In a program on Radio Moldova, he said the applicants asked for subsidies of 350 million lei of the 2013 subsidization fund of 400 million lei.

“About 200 million lei was paid. We are now finishing the procedures for allocating another 150 million lei. By 30 applications on average are processed monthly. We encounter certain problems as the producers do not provide all the necessary data. As a result, the subsidies are paid with delay,” stated Petru Maleru.

As to the possibility of increasing the subsidization fund, the director said that this year the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture manages the financial resources of the World Bank Competitive Agriculture Project that provides support to farmers. “We hope that the next years we will also administer the funds of the ENPARD – the European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development. For the purpose, we were asked to increase the Agency’s capacities for managing these funds,” said Petru Maleru.

He also said that the agricultural producers will thus have greater access to resources for developing businesses, but they will also have to show greater responsibility for efficiently using these resources.