In the new ARKOD system, which records the actual use of agricultural land in Croatia, 20,000 Croatian farmers have been registered in the past month, reported the Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development.
The registration is progressing best in the Požega-Slavonia County, where nearly 60 percent of all agricultural holdings have been registered, followed by Karlovac County (47 percent) and Lika-Senj County (43 percent). Since not all technical prerequisites for registration in ARKOD have been met in some areas, 50 percent of the total number of available agricultural holdings have been registered in this system so far. This amounts to 23,000 agricultural holdings, or nearly 100,000 hectares of agricultural land, as stated in the announcement.
The intensified registration in ARKOD is the result of increased efforts by the Agency for Payments and partner organizations – the Croatian Agricultural Agency and the Croatian Agricultural Advisory Service. Recently, three more counties – Bjelovar-Bilogora, Koprivnica-Križevci, and Osijek-Baranja – have joined the implementation of the new system, bringing the total number of counties implementing ARKOD to 14. The inclusion of the remaining counties, including Zagreb County, which has the highest number of agricultural holdings (over 15,000), is expected in the coming month.
Registration in ARKOD is free and is carried out by more than 550 employees. The introduction of ARKOD is a prerequisite for closing negotiation chapter 11, "Agriculture and Rural Development," and the application of the new system will begin with Croatia’s entry into the EU. The system will enable farmers a simpler and easier way to apply for EU subsidies and more transparent use of state incentives. (H)
