Funds for young farmers used up before deadline

Romania's Paying Agency for Rural Investments (AFIR) says all the European funds allocated for the installation of young farmers, available at sub-measure (sM) 6.1 in the National Rural Development Programme 2014 - 2020 (PNDR 2020), have been used up.

In a press statement released on Friday, AFIR reports that the funds requested by young farmers have surpassed 150% of the total funds allocated for the transition period 2021 - 2022, thus closing the session for receiving funding applications under SM 6.1 on October 8, 2021.

AFIR received 4,302 funding applications online, of which 3,383 applications were submitted by young farmers at the national level (national component including ITI area - Danube Delta) and another 919 funding applications were submitted by young people in the highlands (the highlands component).

The total amount of European funds requested is 200.28 million euros, more than double the allocation of 100 million euros, divided as follows: 155.27 million euros for young people at national level and 45.01 million euros for young people in the highlands.

The funds available for young farmers nationwide were exhausted in the first five days of the second stage of submission, namely October 2, 2021, and the amount allocated to young farmers in the highlands was exhausted on October 8, 2021.

"The session for investment funding applications made by young farmers was launched this year on August 27, with a submission deadline on November 26, 2021, but the particularly high interest of young farmers in funding led to all the funds allocated being used up before the deadline expired," according to AFIR Director General Mihai Moraru.

The related project submission session closes automatically, before the deadline, when the total public value of the submitted projects reaches an estimated score greater than or equal to the quality threshold for that month, according to the Regulation on the selection and challenge resolution for the projects related to PNDR 2020 measures.

Exceptions are the first five calendar days of each stage of submission during the session, when the cessation of project submission is not conditioned by reaching the allocation cap, Agerpres informs.