The Agency for Agricultural Payments and Intervention (APIA) has concluded the campaign for the submission of single payment applications, with the area included in the applications by the applicants covering 9,541,389.45 hectares, 214,524.58 more than in the previous campaign, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR). "This has entailed special efforts from all those involved in the process - farmers, chairs of animal breeders' associations and agricultural producers, APIA, MADR, ANZ and ANSVSA, mayor's offices and prefectures. I want to thank everybody and inform them that compared with the last year, the area covered by the applications submitted increased by 214,524.58 hectares," Agriculture Minister Petre Daea is quoted as saying in a MADR press statement sent to Agerpress.

According to MADR, 884,397 payment applications have been submitted thus far this year for 9,541,389.45 hectares, up from 901,335 applications covering 9,326,864.87 hectares in 2016.

"A drop in applications filed and an increase in the area covered prove that farm holdings have united, as farmer's associations are increasingly more needed to consolidate their market part," added the minister.

MADR says the financial support under the 2017 campaign is secured from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the national budget via the allocations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.