More than 600 million lei has been transferred to the accounts of over 2,800 farmers during the first five months of this year. This is about 40% of the value of the National Agriculture and Rural Development Fund. The situation is similar to January-May last year, acting director of the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) Diana Koshalyk stated in a press briefing.
The money went to pay over 460 million lei post-investment subsidies, to launch 30 startups for which about 12 million lei was allocated and to implement 110 projects that contributed to developing rural localities, in the amount of approximately 89 million lei. Money was also allocated for the functioning of 37 Local Action Groups and for the implementation of 250 investment projects to the value of over 17 million lei. The state contributed about 20 million lei to the National Vine and Wine Fund.
According to Diana Koshalyk, the farmers are interested in developing post-harvesting and processing infrastructure, in purchasing agricultural machines and equipment. They also ask to be paid interest on the raised loan, to be helped to revitalize the animal-breeding sector, to set up and modernize multiannual plantations and to remove unproductive plantations.
In 2022, the AIPA received a record number of over 16,000 applications for financial support.