In the Government Meeting of September 14, 2023, the Decision on granting emergency support for the cereal and oilseed sector was approved. The value of the exceptional unitary support in the form of a grant is 2 lei per liter of diesel fuel, for a total quantity of 152,458,321.08 liters of diesel fuel corresponding to the crops of corn, barley, rapeseed, and sunflower.

The beneficiaries of the emergency support are agricultural producers, regardless of their form of organization, who submitted a single payment application in 2022 for a determined area of at least 1 hectare under the national transitional aid 1, for one or more of the crops of corn, barley, rapeseed, and sunflower, and who have submitted a payment application for interventions in the plant sector in 2023 by the deadline.

"By adopting this legislative act, some Romanian farmers in the plant sector will benefit from total government support of 3.63 lei per liter of diesel fuel used in agricultural work in 2022, which is approximately half the price of fuel," said Minister Florin BARBU.

The total financial resources for this support scheme amount to 304,916,642.16 lei, of which 147,118,905 lei come from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA) and 157,797,737.16 lei come from the state budget.

The support is granted based on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1343 of June 30, 2023, and aims to compensate agricultural producers in the plant sector for the economic losses caused by increased imports of cereals and oilseeds from Ukraine.

The authority responsible for implementing emergency support is the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture, both through its central apparatus and its territorial structures. Payment of this support is to be made by December 31, 2023.

We would like to remind you that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development continues to implement the Diesel Fuel Tax Refund Program used in agriculture, through which farmers have already received 1.63 lei per liter of diesel fuel used in agriculture for the year 2022. The emergency support provided in this legislative act is in addition to the mentioned state aid.