04.05.2026. 4:10 p.m
Montenegrin farmers have so far used 7,972,735 euros or almost ten percent of the money available from the IPARD III program, through which a total of 82 million euros are available to them. Domestic entrepreneurs were thus reimbursed part of the costs for ten completed projects, which they implemented in the sectors of processing and marketing of agricultural and fishing products, business diversification and investment support on farms.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management through IPARD III is currently implementing contracts with another 114 farmers, to whom more than 25.19 million euros could be refunded for investments, while some of the farmers still have problems securing money for investment…
This was officially told to “Vijesti” by the Department of Agriculture, which he manages Vladimir Jokovic.
IPARD III contains non-refundable money to support the development of agriculture, and through it a total of 82 million euros is available to farmers, of which the European Union (EU) donates 63 million, and Montenegro 19 million from the state treasury. The program works according to the refund principle, and the interested parties must invest the money themselves, so only after the completion of the project and control – they get the right to return part of the investment through non-refundable support. This program is implemented for the period from 2021 to 2027, while the money not used during this period is returned to the EU.
The Ministry stated that farmers can receive a refund of 50 to 75 percent of eligible costs, while higher amounts are available for projects related to environmental protection and renewable energy sources, with additional measures for those under 40, women holding farms, mountain projects and collective investments.
Domestic farmers currently have four support lines at their disposal, measure 1 – investments in the physical capital of agricultural farms, measure 3 – in physical capital related to the processing and marketing of agricultural and fishery products, measure 7 – diversification of farms and business development, measure 9 – technical assistance to the IPARD III program.
“With the participation of the users themselves, it is expected that the total value of investments through the implementation of the program will reach around 128 million euros, which represents a significant investment cycle in Montenegrin agriculture. When it comes to disbursed funds, so far 7,234,605 euros have been paid out under Measure 3, of which 5,425,954 euros come from EU funds, and 1,808,651 euros from the national budget, whereby eight projects have been fully completed. 7.1 was paid 699,019 euros (524,264 euros EU and 174,755 euros national funds), with one fully realized project. Within Measure 7.2, 39,111 euros were paid (29,333 euros EU and 9,778 euros national funds), also with one completed project”, they emphasized.
Machines and facilities would 700 farmers
They pointed out that through public calls, carried out in 2024, a total of 7,972,735 euros have been paid so far, of which almost six million euros are from EU funds and 1.99 million from the budget. They added that a significant part of the money is in the implementation phase and that it will be paid out continuously and as the farmers complete their investments according to the contracts.
The Ministry clarified that 35 contracts are currently active through measure 3 and that the support could reach 17.3 million euros, while 74 contracts are in progress for measure 7.1 – diversification and development of business on agricultural farms. The refund in this case could be 7.82 million euros, while five contracts worth 63,222 euros are implemented through measure 7.2 – support for investments in processing on agricultural farms.
“Within Measure 1, where the potential public support amounts to 48,326,998 euros, the administrative processing and contracting process is ongoing. A total of 694 applications were received, of which 493 were evaluated as acceptable and scored. The total allocation of funds amounts to 17.32 million euros, which at this moment enables the signing of contracts with 134 beneficiaries. 1.38 million euros have been allocated for the procurement of tractors. which enables support for a maximum of 82 tractors. The dynamics of signing the remaining contracts will depend on the declaration of users who will not be able to obtain support for tractors, but can be supported for other segments of the investment, if they are functional and without tractors. The final number of users who will sign will be known after the completion of the complete administrative procedure, including the processing and scoring of applications that currently do not have a final status, that is, for which a decision on acceptance has not yet been made.
They emphasized that farmers are most interested in reimbursement for machines and facilities, while for measure 3 – investments in physical capital related to the processing and marketing of agricultural and fishery products, 57 applications were received with a possible payment of 23.43 million euros. They added that for measure 7.1 – diversification and business development on agricultural farms, 165 applications were received with a potential reimbursement of costs of 17.06 million, while for line 7.2 – support for investments in processing on agricultural farms, 19 farmers were interested, with a compensation of 282,364 euros.
New lines are coming
As they say, the department is working on the accreditation of additional support lines, namely measure 4 – agro-climatic and organic production measures, measure 5 – support for the implementation of local development strategies (LEADER approach), measure 6 – investments in rural public infrastructure and measure 11 – establishment and protection of forests.
The Ministry also said that they plan to publish two new public calls (measures 4 and 7.2) by the end of June, as well as two (measure 3 without vehicles and 7.1 for rural tourism) during the fall, while they are planned to last two months each.
“Experiences from the previous program period indicate that providing financial resources for the realization of investments is a challenge for some users. Namely, within the IPARD II program, 55.34 percent of users invested their own funds, 32.21 percent used credit funds, while 12.43 percent combined both sources of financing. In response to these challenges, within the IPARD III program, implementation mechanisms were improved through the possibility of advance and phased payments, improvement of administrative procedures and strengthening of institutional support for users. We emphasize that the current implementation of the IPARD III program shows stable progress, with a continuous increase in the number of contracted and implemented projects, as well as the expressed interest of agricultural producers in available support measures”, said the department.
Through IPARD III, a total of 23 million is available to farmers for investments in the physical capital of farms, 19.69 million for processing and marketing of agricultural and fishery products, 6.32 million for agro-ecological-climatic measures and organic production, 1 million euros for the LEADER approach, 7.64 million euros for investments in rural public infrastructure, while 16.89 million is allocated for the diversification of farms.
1.5 million is ready for technical assistance, along with 5.8 million for establishing and protecting forests.
The program has been running for 12 years
The IPARD program has been available to domestic farmers since the end of 2014, when its first version was presented under the name “IPARD like”.
It was succeeded by IPARD II, whose implementation is planned for the period from 2014 to 2020, with payments through that program being made until the end of 2024. At that time, Montenegro failed to use the entire amount, so around 2.5 million euros were returned to the EU.
“In this period, Montenegro achieved about 90 percent utilization of EU funds, which represents a very high level of realization. A total of 1,495 applications were received, with the most projects being within Measure 1, followed by Measure 3 and Measure 7. Within the implementation of Measure 1, it included the largest number of beneficiaries, while Measure 3, although with a smaller number of projects, had a significant impact through larger and more complex investments,” said the Department of Agriculture.
The Government of Montenegro adopted IPARD III in July 2022, and it covers the period 2021-2027, while project payments can continue three years after their approval.
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