The agriculture subsidization fund will be renamed the National Fund and will represent at least 4% of the annual state budget incomes. Such provisions are contained in a legislative initiative that was passed by Parliament in the first reading on July 28, IPN reports.

Unaffiliated MP Ion Balan, who is the author of the bill, said they suggest implementing a new monitoring system so as to prevent the artificial rise in investment costs. Software will be designed to monitor the selling prices of agricultural machinery and devices.

The bill specifies the powers of the central administrative authority in agriculture, including the legal status and prerogatives of the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agricultures, as a unit for implementing the National Fund for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas.

The bill also provides that direct payments per cultivated hectares will be gradually applied starting with 2018. It is expected that the new provisions will improve the use of natural, human and financial resources by promoting and implementing ecological agriculture, supporting the young agricultural producers/famers, making investments in disadvantaged areas and increasing subsidies.