Farmers in Italy continue to suffer damage and delays in accessing the resources allocated to them under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), due to technical and management problems with the new IT system of the national paying agency AGEA (General Agency for Payments in Agriculture).
The malfunctions of the National Agricultural Information System (SIAN) – which is blamed for the systematic denial of requests for compensation for damage to crops caused by floods, frost and drought (1) – are also hindering the submission of applications for CAP 2024 aid. #VanghePulite.
1) AGEA, technical and management problems of the IT system
The information collected from various farmers, agricultural technicians and other technicians allow us to outline a series of problems in the IT system managed by AGEA.
1.1) Access to the portal and service interruptions
Numerous users have encountered and are encountering difficulties in accessing the AGEA portal, with frequent interruptions and slowdowns that prevent the correct completion of the procedures necessary for the PAC 2024 application.
The disservice is indicated as systematic and therefore particularly critical, taking into account the high number of applications that must be managed within specific deadlines.
1.2) Errors in the 'ABACO system'
The 'ABACO system' – used by AGEA for the management and monitoring of agricultural surfaces – has shown several anomalies and errors in the management of cadastral data and cultivated surfaces.
Problems that have emerged raise doubts about the effectiveness and transparency of the system itself, with the risk of errors in the calculation of CAP premiums and possible economic losses for farmers.
1.3) Complexity of procedures
The new computer system, far from being 'user-friendly', is much more complex than the previous one as it requires a greater number of steps to complete the application.
This complexity also increased the risk of errors in completing applications, causing further delays and frustration among users.
1.4) Sudden system change
The change of system happened just as the deadline for submitting the CAP 2024 application approached, without granting operators at least one year for training, system alignment and error management.
The most common problems generated by the new system, according to the operators, also concern, among other things, the declarations for the concessions of diesel contributions to users of agricultural engines (UMA). And this is only the beginning of the digital bureaucratic nightmare.
2) File management charges and costs
The files' cards – in addition to assuming grotesque dimensions, up to 1.200 pages incomprehensible to the farmers themselves who should sign them – are different from the respective graphic elaborations. The alphanumeric system does not seem in fact able to receive all the information inserted in the graphic elaboration.
2.1) New graphic works
The processing of each file is subordinate to the management of all the reports that arise from the new positioning of the graphics, the new measurements of the surfaces and the new interpretations of the National Soil Map. But the graphic processing does not seem to work in various passages such as civic uses, associated crops and the indication of plots with diversified sowing periods.
Every plot must be segmented into dozens and dozens of micro-particles of surfaces that reach 1 m2,3 and must in any case be checked and verified, accepting or rejecting the interpretation proposed by the system. Tens, hundreds or thousands of individual processes are therefore necessary for each individual agricultural company. And who will pay for the extra days of work made necessary by a dysfunctional system, the farmers or AGEA (and also the citizens)? (2,3)
2.2) Bio notifications, PAP, agro-environmental measures
Bio-notifications and the Annual Production Programs (APP) in turn do not work, according to users, due to the discrepancy between the 'alphanumeric' file and the graphic one.
Other issues have been found in the coupling of agri-environmental measures. The system rejects the applications, operators must repeat the operation and farmers must present themselves several times to the agricultural assistance centres.
3) AGEA, ABACO and… Coldiretti
SIAN development and management services (national agricultural information system) on behalf of AGEA – as already noted (4) – were the subject of a large tender, organised by Consip (the central purchasing body of the public administration in Italy) back in 2016 for a total amount of €550 million.
The highest value contracts concern lots 2 (€102.600) and 3 (€137.946), which were awarded to temporary groupings of companies in which the following participate, respectively:
– AgriConsulting SpA, acquired by Diagram SpA, with headquarters in Iolanda di Savoia and a Board of Directors chaired by Federico Vecchioni. The sole shareholder of Diagram is Agri Holding SpA, controlled by Next Agri SpA (78%) and participated by BF Agricola Srl (20%).
The sole shareholder of Next Agri SpA is Nextalia SGR, whose Board of Directors includes Vincenzo Gesmundo, the boss of the bosses of Coldiretti. AgriConsulting Europe SA in turn was acquired by BF SpA through its BF International. (5)
– Abaco SpA, chaired by Federico Vecchioni (also CEO of BF SpA), acquired in 2023 by Nextalia SGR where Coldiretti CEO Vincenzo Gesmundo appears on the Board of Directors.
The difficulties encountered in the ABACO system are therefore undermining farmers' trust in Coldiretti itself, which is attributed with the 'paternity' of the system.
4) AGEA, from meetings to the 'war room'
The terms for submission of the 2024 unified application have been extended until 30 August 2024, after a heated debate which saw the following opposing sides:
– on the one hand AGEA and Coldiretti, which declared that its CAAs would conclude their activities by 10 August 2024 at the latest and that there were no reasons for further extensions
– on the opposite front, the other agricultural confederations and the representatives of the other CAAs, who insisted on the necessary postponement.
The 'war room' It is the latest idea of the new general director of AGEA Fabio Vitale – a former railway engineer, perhaps not by chance chosen by the minister who will go down in history for having stopped a high-speed train – in an attempt to resolve the many problems mentioned above. (6) Every man for himself.
#VanghePulite
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. AgriCat, no protection against damages from catastrophic events. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(2) See paragraph 3.6 (Public fees) in the previous article by Dario Dongo. Italy, green light for the CAA monopoly on EU aid in agriculture. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Dario Dongo. CAA reform, new costs and bureaucracy for farmers. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) See paragraph 5 of the article cited in note 1
(5) BF International signs with Agriconsulting and its partners the framework agreement for the purchase of a 100% stake in the share capital of Agriconsulting Europe SA 22.4.24 https://tinyurl.com/5efecktb
(6) Alberto Maria Alessandrini. Delays in CAP payments? Don't worry, those geniuses at Agea have the "War room" ready! Marche Agricole. 27.8.24 https://tinyurl.com/7pf5fw2s
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
