On Thursday, the government approved several state aid schemes totaling more than 72.4 million euros for livestock farmers, amounts to be financed from the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture.

State aid in the amount of EUR 16.1 million for beef cattle and buffalo breeders

The first regulatory act establishes a temporary scheme of state aid to support the activities of livestock farmers in the field of meat cattle breeding and buffalo from October 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 in the context of the crisis caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which is valid until December 31, 2023.

The purpose of state aid is to compensate for losses caused by higher prices for feed, fuel and other costs (labor wages, veterinary services, utilities, etc.).

Beneficiaries of the scheme can be livestock farmers owning cattle and buffaloes, respectively individual and family enterprises, authorized natural persons, natural persons, as the case may be, as well as legal entities.

The eligibility conditions are as follows:

• ownership as of March 31, 2023 of a herd of cattle or buffaloes on a farm with an ANSVSA code registered in the BND (National Database);
• beef cattle and buffaloes for which public assistance is sought must be entered/registered in the pedigree register, main or supplementary section.
• possession on the eve of the start date of the application period of at least 50% of the herd of cattle and/or buffaloes owned as on March 31, 2023.

The total amount that can be granted to each enterprise to support livestock farmers engaged in the primary production of agricultural products does not exceed the equivalent of 280,000 euros in lei.

The following amount of state aid is offered:

• for beef cattle 100 euros/head
• for buffalo herds 100 euros/head

The estimated cost of the aid scheme is 79,427,740 lei, equivalent to 16,100,000 euros, and the estimated number of potential beneficiaries is 6,000, with an estimated herd of 150,000 cattle and 11,000 buffaloes.

State aid for more than 56.3 million euros for pig farmers and poultry farmers

Another resolution of the Government will establish a temporary scheme of state aid to support the activities of animal breeders in the field of pig and poultry farming in the context of the crisis caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which will be in effect until June 30, 2024, with the aim of compensating for losses caused by the increase in prices for fodder, fuel and Other expenses.

The total amount that can be granted for each enterprise operating in the field of primary production of agricultural products does not exceed the equivalent of 280,000 euros in lei.

The maximum total value of the state aid scheme is 126,694,400 lei, which is equivalent to 25.6 million euros for the pig sector and 151,934,300 lei, which is equivalent to 30.7 million euros for the poultry sector. The Euro/Leu exchange rate for calculating the maximum total value/amount is the rate published by the National Bank of Romania on August 1, 2023, namely 4.9334 Lei/Euro.

Beneficiaries of the scheme can be:

• a) livestock breeders, legal entities, individual or family enterprises, authorized natural persons, as well as agricultural companies, established on the basis of Law No. 36/1991 on agricultural companies and other forms of associations in agriculture, as amended, which carried out activities from fattening and/or breeding pigs, during the period from August 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023;
• b) poultry farmers, legal entities, individual or family enterprises, authorized natural persons, as well as agricultural companies, created on the basis of Law No. 36/1991 on agricultural companies and other forms of associations in agriculture, with subsequent changes and additions, which carried out reproduction and/or incubation and/or rearing of poultry for meat or eggs, during the period from August 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023.

Eligibility conditions for potential beneficiaries are as follows:

• own an authorized sanitary-veterinary farm/ownership on the date of submitting a request for state assistance;
• carry out pig breeding and/or breeding activities in the period from 01.08.2022 to 31.08.2023 in sanitary and veterinary institutions;
• carry out breeding and/or incubation and/or raising of poultry in the period from August 1, 2022 to August 31, 2023 in sanitary and veterinary authorized farms.

State aid is granted to beneficiaries for production facilities under minimum welfare conditions maintained by the beneficiary between 1 August 2022 and 31 August 2023, equivalent to UVM, depending on pig/poultry categories.

The proposed amount of state aid is 100 EUR/UVM, equivalent in lei, and the conversion factors are given in annex no. 1 to Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 18, 2018, respectively: 0.3 UVM for fattened pigs, 0.5 UVM for breeding pigs, respectively sows and gilts, 0.007 UVM for broilers and young animals that hatched, 0.03 for turkeys and pullets, and 0.014 UVM for repair pullets and layers, breeding pullets and heavy breed chickens.

The exceptional aid targets about 250 potential beneficiaries in the pig sector out of about 260,000 UVM production capacity and about 310 beneficiaries in the poultry sector out of about 310,000 UVM production capacity.

The deadline for submission is 30 working days from the date of entry into force of this order, payment is due by June 30, 2024.

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