According to the indicative timetable of the Program for development of rural areas 2014-2020, the intake of projects under sub-measure 4.2 "Investments in processing and marketing of agricultural products" should begin on the 28th of September this year. The start is highly anticipated by everyone who processes agricultural production or intends to start doing it.

Practically any individuals and legal entities that are planning to process plant and animal agricultural products can apply. This includes technical and medical crops / without tobacco / as well as sugar and confectionery products. Eligible candidates are in sectors that operate in the sectors of meat, milk, fruits, vegetables, honey, cereals, fats, fodder, wine, vinegar.

Funded are going to be investment projects for the purchase and construction of both material assets and also intangible assets such as production technology, construction and reconstruction of buildings and other real estate assets. Eligible will be expenses for the purchase of software, patents, licenses, management systems and also for the preparation of the projects and business plan. Resources will be given for equipment or assets for storage and transport of the production.

It is possible support to receive wastewater treatment plants as well as the processing of biomass for energy production. Expenses for land should not exceed 10% of the total project size.

The subsidy for the investment projects is 50% of the total eligible costs for micro, small and medium enterprises and for the large enterprises it is 40%. The minimum size of one project can be 15,000 euro and the maximum - 3 million euro.

The question is who will have the chance for more points because the selection criteria are still not clear.

As Priority 1 emerges the introduction of energy saving technologies and innovations. Energy savings will be proved with documents from an energy investigation which shows that the planned investments contribute to reducing the energy costs of the enterprise. Consulting companies from now pay attention to their customers on the fact that the energy investigations will make their projects more expensive because they will have to be carried out by certified for the purpose people. Furthermore, the investigation will be subject to verification by the Agency for Sustainable Energy Development. Proof of innovations is another delicate moment that will also apply for the food industry. It will also only happen by a document for a patent or a certificate for a useful model issued by the Patent Office.

In Priority 2 fall the sensitive sectors which will receive extra points. Ie more bonus points will again receive processors of fruits and vegetables, dairies and meat processing, as well as the sites that distill essential oils and honey producers. It turns out that the wine producers who also hoped to submit projects under the program will have no additional points under this priority because the wine grape sorts are excluded from the so-called sensitive sectors.

Priority 3 covers organic products, but it is still not clear with what documents it will be proved.

Priority 4 is for sustainable employment, or - new staff. Additional points will be given to projects that provide employment to new personal. Candidates will have to ensure that they will keep the number of employees another three years after the payment of the subsidy. At the same time the old staff should not be abbreviated. The priority will only apply to enterprises that are in the rural area.

Priority 5 is Northwestern Bulgaria and areas with restrictions. Such are populated areas that fall within the list of disadvantaged areas.

Subsidy for sub-measure 4.2 will be granted out in advance and intermediate payments. The advance may be up to 50% of the project expenses but must be accompanied by a bank guarantee for 100% of the payment or a guarantee contract with at least two guarantors.

Intermediate payments will be made to a maximum of three stages and will be eligible only for the projects that can be divided into stages.

"Priority" Ltd can assist you in the preparation, management and reporting of your projects!

More details on the application requirements can be found here.

Source: bgfermer.bg