
- NIK: Financial aid to support organic farming was not always granted and settled correctly. The Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture issued almost 20 thousand decisions on granting organic payments to agricultural producers in the total amount of over PLN 520 million without timely delivery, which resulted in delays in some payments.
- NIK: ARiMR issued untimely decisions on granting payments under the “Organic farming” measure of the Rural Development Programme 2014–2020, which was inconsistent with the Act on supporting rural development with the participation of funds from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development under the Rural Development Programme for 2014–2020.
We would like to remind you that in the European Union, approximately 14.7 million hectares are designated for organic farming. The leading countries in this production are: France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Austria, but they also have a richer society that can afford such products. Poland has organic farming at the level of 3.7%. Ultimately, by 2030, it is to be 7% of agricultural land. This is a very big leap for us. Is it possible? Time will tell. In the years 2019-2022, there was an increase in the number of organic producers from 20,144 to 22,882 and the number of organic livestock from 538.9 thousand units to 875.3 thousand units. However, NIK points out that the total area of organic agricultural land increased by only 9.3% over the four years – from 507.6 thousand hectares in 2019 to 554.6 thousand hectares in 2022.
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Financing organic farming
The Supreme Audit Office has looked into this topic. A report on support for this production has just been published. How does it fare?
– Financial aid to support organic farming was not always granted and settled correctly. The Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture issued almost 20 thousand decisions on granting organic payments to agricultural producers for a total amount of over PLN 520 million late, which resulted in delays in some payments. Irregularities in this area indicate ineffective supervision of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development over ARiMR, and may also result in a reduction of EU funds for Polish organic farmers and weaken their competitiveness on the European market. NIK also points out that in Poland there was no separate national strategy for the development of the organic farming sector, and the framework action plans for food and organic farming did not specify the sources of their financing and target values of their implementation indicators – we read in the NIK report.
It is worth emphasizing that the described NIK audit concerned the granting and settlement of financial aid to support organic farming in the years 2019-2023.
What were the key findings of the audit?
– Since the launch of financing under the "Organic farming" measure of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, i.e. from 2015 to 30 September 2023, the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture has paid beneficiaries a total of nearly PLN 2.94 billion out of just over PLN 3.81 billion, or 77% of the limit of funds allocated for this measure. Payments to beneficiaries of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 will be made until the end of 2025 – we read in the report.
That's not all, as reported, ARiMR issued decisions on granting payments under the "Organic farming" measure of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 in an untimely manner, which was inconsistent with the Act on supporting rural development with the participation of funds from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development under the Rural Development Programme for 2014-2020. In the 2018-2022 campaigns, 19,430 decisions were issued in violation of this provision, for an amount exceeding PLN 520 million.
– The untimely issuance by ARiMR of decisions on the granting of ecological payments and the untimely implementation of these payments indicate two issues. Firstly, the post-audit conclusions in this respect from the NIK audit conducted in 2018 entitled Supporting the development of organic farming were not implemented. The actions taken by the Agency to timely handle the "Organic farming" measure of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 proved ineffective, as they did not eliminate delays in issuing these decisions and implementing ecological payments. Secondly, the supervision of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development over ARiMR proved ineffective in this respect. NIK points out that the untimely implementation of ecological payments under the above-mentioned measure creates a risk of the European Commission reducing payments to Poland under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. This is associated with the risk of weakening the competitiveness of Polish organic farming – according to the NIK report.
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There was no strategy for ecology?
As reported, there was no separate national strategy for the development of the organic farming sector in Poland. The documents that indicated actions for the development of organic farming were the framework action plans for food and organic farming developed in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
– The framework action plans for organic food and farming do not specify the sources of their financing and the amount of financial outlays for organic farming, nor do they specify the target values of indicators for the implementation of individual actions for the development of organic farming. According to NIK, this may have an adverse effect on the correct and rational financial support for organic farming, as well as on the proper assessment of the effectiveness of the implemented projects – we read in the report of the Supreme Audit Office.
Post-audit conclusions
NIK submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development the following proposals:
- intensifying actions to achieve the target set out in the Framework Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming for 2021-2030, i.e. doubling the area of organic agricultural land to more than one million hectares by 2030;
- definitions in the framework action plans for organic food and farming:
a) the sources of their financing and the amount of financial outlays on organic farming,
b) target values of indicators for the implementation of individual measures for the development of organic farming;
- preparing annual reports on the implementation of the framework action plans for organic food and farming, containing a summary of the actions taken, an analysis of the effects achieved and indication of directions for improving the implementation of individual actions, in order to effectively monitor and undertake adequate measures to further support organic farming.
Agriculture must have support
Farmer.pl wrote in 2020 that support is needed as part of the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal.
According to Prof. Jolanta Kowalska from IOR-PIB, who spoke for us at the time, in order to ensure commercial production of local organic products, efforts should be intensified to develop and provide producers with safe alternative methods of protecting crops from pests and diseases. These are the announced actions of the EC, as well as facilitating the introduction of biological protection products to the market. However, all these actions should be implemented in close cooperation between research centers and state administration.
Does such a situation occur?
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25 percent of agricultural land for organic farming by 2030
Source: NIK