'Guide to the direct payments from MAF and 1000 consultation centers from NCV'

The Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a Handbook to assist farmers in applying for direct payments for the 2015 campaign. The National Agricultural Advisory Service is organizing over 1000 advisory offices across the country.

All necessary information regarding the conditions, deadlines, and schemes for direct payments has now been gathered in one place. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food has created a handbook that will be extremely useful for farmers, as it will explain the entire European support procedure in black and white. It will be distributed free of charge by the respective municipal agricultural services and will also be available for download from the Ministry's website.

To receive support in this campaign, farmers must be registered as agricultural producers and meet the requirements for an active farmer. Another novelty is that areas for support can only be declared after presenting legal grounds for their use. Outlining areas exceeding the registered size with legal grounds will not be possible. The redistributive payment scheme will also be applied, under which farmers will receive additional funds for areas up to 30 hectares.

A new feature in the 2015 campaign are the so-called green direct payments. These will be received for meeting ecological requirements, but the areas for which support will be provided must be eligible for support under the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS). Farmers with arable land, permanent crops, and permanent grassland who meet the requirements for crop diversification, maintenance of permanent grassland, or maintaining 5% of arable land as ecological focus areas are entitled to green payments.

For fruit and vegetable producers, including those in greenhouses, just over 40.5 million euros are allocated. The handbook also describes the application schemes for farmers growing protein crops, those growing cotton, as well as for the transitional national aid.

Handbook for Direct Payments

The National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAAS) will organize over 1,000 mobile offices across the country by the end of the year. Through these offices, every farmer will receive up-to-date information not only on direct payments and national support schemes but also on issues related to the financing of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.

The schedule for the period March-May 2015 is published on the electronic page of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in the "Current" section, as well as on the NAAS website in the "Trainings and Information Activities" section, subsection "Mobile Offices".

Schedule of Mobile Offices for Agricultural Producers in the Country