The Croatian Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday that farmers had been paid €220 million in advances for direct payments and that 101,637 agricultural holdings had received the aid.

Advance payments began on November 2, and 101,637 farms which had applied for support in 2022 and met the eligibility requirements following checks by the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development have received the aid, the Ministry said in a statement.

Less than one per cent of applications are still being checked and advances will be paid to those farms after the completion of the checks, namely before the end of January.

€226.3 million was secured for the payment of advances to farmers, or 70 per cent of the approved amount of support. The remaining amount will disbursed by the end of February.

The money for this payment is fully refunded from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, the Ministry said.