Farmers demand justice from NMA

About 30 women farmers from across the country came to meet representatives of the National Paying Agency. Those whose projects were missing more than €20 million in state support. Farmers are hoping that the money will still be paid, at least in December. If not, the farmers will default on their commitments and will have to pay deslpinigs and penalties. The amounts for each farmer can range from a few thousand to €12 000 or more.

Farmers could face not only financial but also reputational damage.

Some farmers' commitments to suppliers have been overdue for a month or more.

The meeting with the NMA was announced on Friday after working hours

„Farmers meet again in Vilnius on Monday! No tractors yet“, – farmers affected by MAA's actions wrote in a message.

„The authorities are calling on farmers to unite again. In their own way, of course. A few weeks ago, the sector was informed that the NMA would be short of €20 million for this year's aid payments. This means that those who have submitted payment claims will not receive the planned money in the near future and will undoubtedly face financial and reputational losses. Communication between the MAFF and the NMA on this issue is very poor and limited. Scam-like phone calls, fragmented information about choices and consequences have become a daily routine for farmers," farmers wrote.

What happened?

The Ministry of Agriculture did not plan sufficient funds for the measure "Support for investments in agricultural holdings" of the Lithuanian Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2022 and the Minister of Agriculture Andrius Palionis, instead of urgently looking for funds in the state budget, took the easy way out – the money can wait until the first quarter of next year. Although other ministries managed to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Finance and were granted funds by a government decision for contracted projects lacking EU money.

NMA started attacking farmers a few days ago with calls urging them to accept that the funds for the projects would only be transferred to farmers next year – from the funds of the Strategic Plan for Lithuanian Agriculture and Rural Development 2023-2027.

The problem was exacerbated when the NMA started sending letters to farmers on the "Palionis list" a couple of days ago, with templates of consent which, if signed, would make the farmers take full responsibility for the breach of their agreements with suppliers.

Leaving both the government and their own

In its replies to „Agrobitei“, the MAF seemed to be trying to shift some of the blame to the farmers themselves. Moreover, the Minister of Agriculture himself, A. Palionis, seems to want to remain aloof in the public sphere, as if not to be associated with this scandal, even though it was he who was aware of the problem of the lack of funds even before the autumn.

Members of the Seimas who are members of the Committee on Rural Affairs (CRC), who have become aware of the scandalous situation, have promised to discuss the problem at a CRC meeting. However, according to the chairman of the CRC, Bronius Ropė, these plans were later abandoned because „nobody contacted the committee“.The chairman of the Lithuanian Agriculture Council (LAC), which claims to unite the most influential farmer organisations, Jonas Vilionis, stressed that he would not contact the Seimas Committee. "The Ministry did the right thing," Vilionis defended the Agriculture Ministry.

The silence of the LFA is probably related to the 80 000 EUR, which, with the blessing of the MAF, was allocated to strengthen „self-government“ by organising information events in 9 different districts, where agricultural issues were discussed with the LFA in the presence of Mr Palionis, the NMA, the MoHVT and the heads of other institutions.