Burden on the Agricultural Subsidy Fund increases every year. The 950 million lei provided per year in recent times, does not cover the needs of the agricultural sector. In 2020, although the forecast amount remains the same, between 100 and 200 million lei will be available to support farmers. The rest of the amount is either debt or fixed-term financing.
During Parliamentary Committee for agriculture and food industry hearings, Vadim Curmei, the Agency for Intervention and Payments for Agriculture director, said that while in 2019 342 million lei were paid as debts for subsidies for 2018, then in 2020 the debts for 2019 will constitute 612 million lei. 27 million are provided to the National Office of Vine and Wine, 135 million for rural development and 45 million for subventions in advance.
The AIPA director said that the subsidy debt increase probability in 2020 is even higher, because new subsidy measures are planned for next year, which involve new expenses.
Diana Coșalîc, head of AIPA's methodology and reporting service, said that the institution asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment to increase the subsidy fund for 2020. If no additional resources are identified, then the subsidy measures should be readjusted.
The Democrat MP Nicolae Ciubuc, member of the Committee, supported the revision of financing principles and insisted on monitoring the results of the investments that were already made. The MP said that more money will be available if corrupt schemes are counteracted.
Socialist MP Radu Mudreac, Committee chairman, proposed capping the subsidies allocated to the development of post-harvest infrastructure.
On October 31, AIPA ended the 2019 campaign for submitting applications for post-investment subsidies. More than 7 400 applications were received, while the requested amount is 1.1 billion lei. Most requests are related to the livestock sector, followed by the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment.
