The Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Forestry, through the Regional Directorate for Agriculture, will open applications in September and October to SAFIAGRA III, concerning the costs borne by farmers between January 2016 and June 2017.
An ordinance published in the Official Journal states that the change in deadlines is intended to render the access to applications more flexible as the initial application period was contiguous with the period of eligibility of costs," which could pose constraints in the preparation of applications."
Created by resolution of the Governing Council in March 2016 SAFIAGRA III is intended to offset the bank burden on loans applied to investments in regional farms in the Azores.
The support consists of the subsidisation of 30% of interest and stamp duty on loans applied to investments in farms.
This change has been efficiently coordinated with industry partners and provides credit institutions with more time to with industry partners and allows credit institutions more time to gather the necessary documents for the processes.
The Regional Directorate for Agriculture is responsible for analysing the applications submitted, both individually and collectively, as well as for verifying their compliance with the stipulated requirements.
Applications are submitted through the electronic submission of a form, available at http://gestpdr.azores.gov.pt and authenticated with an identification code assigned for this purpose.
In 2016, a total of 826 applications were submitted, representing an eligible credit amount of 108 million Euros and a public expenditure of 1.5 million Euros.