AFIR to Finance Additional Agricultural Machinery Projects Following Budget Supplement under Submeasure 4.1

Following a budget supplement for Package 4.1.1 under Submeasure 4.1 "Investments in Agricultural Holdings", the Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR) will be able to finance, in a first stage, 189 eligible but previously unfunded projects submitted under Component I, with a total non-reimbursable funding allocation of €59,976,111.

These projects, submitted during the 2024 session under Submeasure 4.1 – Package 4.1.1 “Simple purchase of agricultural machinery at farm level – plant sector”, were evaluated and declared eligible by AFIR experts, but were not funded due to the initial budget being exhausted.

The budget increase was made possible through efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in cooperation with the Managing Authority and AFIR, to amend the National Rural Development Programme 2014–2020 (NRDP 2020). Based on European Commission Decision C(2024) 8438/22.11.2024, which approved version 19 of the NRDP 2020, the procedural framework was revised and the budget supplement was announced on March 24, 2025.

As part of this first funding stage, only the 189 projects under Component I – “All crops, excluding sugar beet and associative forms” were selected, according to the supplementary selection report published on March 28, 2025, on the official website www.afir.ro.

Additionally, once the evaluation and appeal stages for Component III – “Associative forms other than those in the sugar beet sector” are finalized, a separate supplementary selection report will be issued to fund eligible projects under that component.

“Together with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Florin Barbu, and the Managing Authority within MADR, we decided to increase the budget for the agricultural machinery acquisition component, considering that these projects have already been evaluated by AFIR and are ready for swift contracting, significantly reducing the time required to start and complete the investments,” said Adrian Chesnoiu, General Director of AFIR.

He added:

“This solution ensures compliance with the final payment deadlines of the 2014–2020 financial framework, which are September 30, 2025 for the submission of the last payment request by farmers and December 31, 2025 for AFIR to make the final payments to NRDP beneficiaries. This measure also contributes to maximizing absorption of the entire programme budget, with the objective of using every last eurocent available.”

Following the notification of selected applicants, the projects will move into the contracting phase, allowing farmers to purchase equipment and machinery in line with their signed financing contracts with AFIR.

The supplementary selection report is available at www.afir.ro, under the Reports >> Selection section or directly via this link: www.afir.ro-selectie.

As a reminder, since this funding is made available under the NRDP 2014–2020, the final payment request must be submitted no later than September 30, 2025, to allow AFIR to complete all payments by the programme’s closure date on December 31, 2025.(Photo: Freepik)