The Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) reminds that until October 26, 2023, inclusive, applications for emergency support for the cereal and oilseed sector can be submitted.

Potential beneficiaries are invited to the APIA Centers where the single payment request for the year 2022 has been filed in their territorial area to request emergency support.

The APIA Centers provide farmers with pre-printed applications with data related to the 4 crops (sunflower, corn, rapeseed, barley), determined following administrative and on-site checks for the 2022 application year.

It is worth noting that as of October 18, 2023, a total of 176,451 applications have been submitted, requesting support totaling 261,620,703.000 Lei.

The scheme is granted for the areas related to the single area payment request submitted in 2022 for a minimum of 1 ha with one or more of the following crops: corn/barley/sunflower/rapeseed.

To calculate the exceptional grant support, it is considered to represent a value for a unit quantity of 78 liters/ha of diesel fuel. In determining the total value of the support, 50% of the quantity resulting from multiplying the number of eligible hectares by the value of 78 liters/ha of diesel fuel is used.

The amount is 2 Lei/liter of diesel fuel for a total quantity of 152,458,321.08 liters of diesel fuel corresponding to the crops of corn/barley/sunflower/rapeseed.

The total financial resources amount to 304,916,642.16 Lei, which represents the equivalent of 61,617,993.10 Euros, set at the exchange rate of 4.9485 Lei/Euro, and are provided as follows:

a) 147,118,905 Lei, equivalent to 29,730,000 Euros, non-reimbursable external funding through the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund.

b) 157,797,737.16 Lei, equivalent to 31,887,993.77 Euros, provided from the state budget.

The beneficiaries of emergency support are agricultural producers, regardless of their organizational form, as follows:

a) Individual agricultural producers;

b) Individual agricultural producers authorized individuals, individual enterprises, and family enterprises established in accordance with the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 44/2008 on economic activities carried out by authorized natural persons, individual enterprises and family enterprises, approved with subsequent amendments and completions by Law No. 182/2016;

c) Legal entities engaged in agricultural production, regardless of their legal status or form of organization, agricultural companies organized in accordance with Law No. 36/1991 on agricultural companies and other forms of association in agriculture, with subsequent amendments and completions, companies regulated by Companies Law No. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, groups and organizations of producers recognized according to Government Ordinance No. 37/2005 on the recognition and functioning of groups and organizations of producers for the marketing of agricultural and forestry products, approved with subsequent amendments and completions by Law No. 338/2005.

Grant applicants must meet the following eligibility conditions cumulatively:

a) Registered in the APIA records with the single payment request for 2022, from which the crops planted in the 2021-2022 agricultural year can be identified, as well as the land areas related to corn and/or barley and/or rapeseed and/or sunflower crops, determined following all administrative and on-site checks.

b) Registered in the records of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) with the single payment request for 2023 for interventions in the plant sector.

c) The support is granted for the areas related to the single area payment request submitted in 2022 for a minimum of 1 ha with one or more of the crops of corn and/or barley and/or rapeseed and/or sunflower.

d) If the agricultural producer who submitted the single payment request in 2022 has been taken over by transfer, the emergency support granted under the provisions of this decision can be requested by the entity that has taken over the operation.

After submitting the application for emergency support, farmers can no longer transfer the payment request for the interventions requested in 2023.

State aid payment is made until December 31, 2023.

Information regarding beneficiaries, eligibility conditions, accompanying documents for the application for state aid, as well as the Applicant's Guide, can be found on the APIA website: www.apia.org.ro.

Legislation:

Government Decision no. 845/2023 regarding the granting of emergency support for the cereal and oilseed sector.