Opens today, Friday, 12 November, the Platform for submission of applications for the new «Young Farmers» programme (submeasure 6.1) with a total budget of €420 million, with the the closing date should be Tuesday, 14 December 2021, as stated in the invitation which was published yesterday, Thursday.

The main objectives of the programme are age renewal the sector, to increase the effectiveness of the measure, through the granting of sufficient aid to the treatment of start-up costs in the agricultural sector and realization Investment, as well as the support for young farmer candidates, who are not facing an opportunistic entry into the agricultural sector.

«With this programme, our aim is to enable more than 11,000 young people to get involved in the primary sector, which is one of the main pillars of the development of the Greek economy», said the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, George Stylios, stressing that «in this context, we are doubling the amount we give to young farmers, compared to the previous programs, while we give 70% in advance».

As he added, «an important differentiation compared to the past, is the simplification in the process of submitting supporting documents, as we are eliminating the procedure of submitting a physical file and documents. For the first time, everything will be done electronically, including the assessment of applications. In fact, our aim is that there should be no extension and the money should be given to young farmers within a maximum of 6-7 months».

35.000-40.000 euro aid

With regard to some elements of the programme, it is worth mentioning that it is envisaged that both an increase in the amount of aid to EUR 35,000 - EUR 40,000 (with an increase of up to EUR 5,000, depending on the place of permanent residence and the direction of the holding) and the definition of the obligations undertaken by applicants for the measure.

As Mr. Stylios said in his statement, with this programme «we are giving an employment outlet to the new generation of our country. We support in practice the agri-food sector, by proceeding with the age renewal of the people employed in it», he added: «We are thus also helping rural families to pass on the baton to the new generations. A basic prerequisite is the existence of a business plan, so that they can develop into modern farmers and real entrepreneurs who produce value-added products that are in demand on domestic and international markets.

The main elements of the programme

More specifically:

The measure is aimed at adults who have not yet reached the age of 41 and who are setting up for the first time on an agricultural holding during the ten-month period preceding the submission of the support application.
To join, submit an online application to State Aid Information System, an application and a business plan with a duration of 3 to 4 years.
The amount of the aid is not linked to specific costs and, depending on the place of residence and the productive direction of the farm, ranges from EUR 35 000 to EUR 40 000.
The aid shall be paid in two instalments. The first instalment, which is paid upon the beneficiary's inclusion in the measure, is 70% of the total amount of aid, while the second instalment is paid upon completion of the business plan.
Beneficiaries must acquire the status of professional farmer and maintain it for four years from the completion of their business plan.
Beneficiaries must be placed under the normal VAT scheme and remain there for four years from the completion of their business plan.

The breakdown

The distribution of public expenditure per Region has been made taking into account, among other criteria, the fair development transition, insularity, mountainousness, the underestimation of the intra-regional importance of the primary sector due to the presence of a strong secondary sector in the same Region, as well as the need to support fire-affected regions, which resulted from the extensive fires in rural areas in the summer of 2021.

The breakdown of public expenditure by Region is as follows: