The Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR) announces the launch of the application submission session for simple agricultural machinery acquisitions through sub-measure 4.1 "Investments in Agricultural Holdings" under the National Rural Development Program.

Applicants can submit their funding requests starting from June 25, 2024, at 09:00 AM, through the Agency's official website – [www.afir.ro](http://www.afir.ro). The deadline for submitting funding requests is September 24, 2024, at 4:00 PM.

The financial allocation for this session is set at 310,515,188 euros, divided into three components as follows: 198,000,000 euros for all crops except sugar beet and investments made by associative forms, 61,000,000 euros for sugar beet, and 51,515,188 euros for associative forms other than those in the sugar beet sector.

Within this call for project proposals, package 4.1.1 allows the submission of simple agricultural machinery acquisition projects for holdings that include field crops, including forage crops for animal feed and technical plants, as well as horticultural crops, including those in protected spaces.

"The intensity of the support provided ranges from 30% to a maximum of 90%, depending on the economic size of the holding, the type of beneficiary, and the investments to be made through the project. The non-reimbursable funding value starts from 350,000 euros and can increase, depending on the economic size of the holding and the type of beneficiary, up to 1,500,000 euros (for cooperatives, producer groups, and producer organizations)," stated George CHIRIȚĂ, General Director of AFIR.

The quality threshold for the first stage of submission (June 25 – July 24, 2024) is 90 points for all crops, 75 points for sugar beet, and 88 points for associative forms. This threshold gradually decreases to a minimum of 56 points/32 points/44 points for each component in the final monthly stage of the session (August 25 – September 24, 2024).

Applicants should consider the correct sizing of their machinery fleet in accordance with the annex to the Applicant's Guide concerning the correlation between machine power and farm area for the acquisition of agricultural machinery, available on the AFIR website.