The executive agreed on the method of distributing the agriculture subsidization fund for this year. According to Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Eduard Grama, the 900 million lei earmarked for the purpose (including the 387 million lei provided within the European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development) will be allocated for increasing the competitiveness of the agrifood sector, for modernizing this, for ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and for increasing investments in the rural service infrastructure, IPN reports. 

Subsidies will be provided to farmers who aim to adjust their products to the European standards, including the packing. The agriculture subsidization fund will be managed by the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture.

The agriculture subsidization fund 2016 will be also used to pay the subsidization debts of 263 million lei accumulated during the last two years.

In the context of the accumulated debts, Minister of Finance Octavian Armasu asked not to accept applications after the agriculture subsidization fund planned for this year is used up. “It would be right to tell the producers frankly that there is no money than to accumulate new debts,” he stated.