The DF “Agriculture” reported that the disbursed funds under the Program for Rural Areas (2014-2020) are about 61%
The review and approval of its sixteenth amendment to the PRDP is important so that it can be sent to the European Commission (EC) in a short period of time. He stated this before The Oversight Committee Deputy Minister of Agriculture Todor Dzhikov.
The transfer of funds between measures and sub-measures, as well as the long-awaited possibility of indexation of costs by public beneficiaries, was another important topic of the 20th Monitoring Committee. The agenda of the meeting included consideration of the evaluation criteria of sub-measure 6.4.1 for non-agricultural activities, with a view to the upcoming start of acceptance of project proposals under it, as well as the Indicative annual work program of the PRDP for 2023.
“The most important thing for the office is to not allow the loss or return of funds this year,” stressed Todor Dzhikov. And he specified that at the end of the program period, when allocating the funds, we should be guided by two things – pressing needs for funding in the sector and areas that did not receive it.
The committee participants approved the majority of the proposed 16th amendment to the RDP, which will allow including funds in the amount of 83.4 million euros to be directed to the budget under sub-measure 7.2. In this way, the reception of project proposals under the sub-measure, which started in 2022, will be financially ensured. 17 million euros are also transferred to the same sub-measure, which are intended for the announcement of targeted receipts for the municipalities of Maritsa and Karlovo, which suffered from the floods in 2022. According to the information of the local authority, the indicative value of the damages that can be financed under the RDP , is in the amount of 7 million euros. The remaining 10 million euros are earmarked for cost indexation, which will take place in the coming months.
With the amendment, it is envisaged that 10 million euros will also be directed to the budget of measure 20 for technical assistance, in order to purchase GPS devices necessary for the implementation of the control laid down in the interventions under the Strategic Plan for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas for the period 2023 – 2027. This will provide, as outlined in the requirements of the Strategic Plan, tracking devices for herds of more than 50 animals. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the funding will cover over 1.3 million large and small ruminants.
With a written procedure, the approval of the redirection of another 20 million euros to sub-measure 4.3 “Investments in infrastructure”, necessary for the announcement of a targeted reception with the beneficiary “Irrigation Systems” EAD for carrying out activities, including the purchase of equipment aimed at preventive measures, is pending and actions to limit natural disasters and other events.
It also became clear at the meeting that funds in the amount of 16.6 million euros will be directed to finance all approved project proposals with an equal number of points under the energy efficiency procedure.
Under sub-measure 1.2 “Demonstration activities”, an increase in the amount of investment costs from EUR 100 thousand in one project proposal to EUR 350 thousand is proposed in connection with a planned new acceptance of project proposals in 2023.
During the meeting of the Monitoring Committee, the State Fund for Agriculture (SFA) presented the general progress of the implementation of the PRDP. The disbursed funds so far are over 2.3 billion euros, which is over 61% of the total budget. “In 2022, 5,200 projects were agreed upon, with which we achieved a good rate of negotiation,” said the deputy executive director of DFZ Iva Ivanova. EC representatives commented that they highly appreciate the joint efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, as the Managing Authority of the program, and the DFZ, as the Paying Agency, to prevent the loss of funds.