Romanian farmers cash in EUR 314 mln as part of the SAPS

Newsroom 25/10/2013 | 12:37

The Romanian Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) has made payments worth RON 1.4 billion (EUR 314 million) representing the first installment of the Scheme of Unique Payment on Surface (SAPS) which Romanians farmers will receive this year.

Some 555.408 farmers have received the first installment worth some EUR 61 per hectare. The total sum Romanian farmers will receive this year from the EU as part of the SAPS is EUR 139 per hectare. However, the amount of money Romanian farmers will actually cash in will be lower following a downward correction. The reason for this is that the total farming surface for which farmers currently apply for subsidies is more than 1 million hectares above the 8.7 million-hectare surface negotiated in 2007 with the EU.

To this, the Romanian state will add some EUR 21 per hectare as national contribution.

The first installment was paid starting October. For the 2013 agricultural campaign, over 1.03 million applications for SAPS were registered in Romania for a total surface of 9.8 million hectares. However, Romania will receive a total of EUR 1.2 billion for the SAPS from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund for a reference surface of 8.7 million hectares.

EU’s direct payment per hectare will rise from about EUR 139 this year to EUR 196 by 2020, following the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)