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 malfunctioning of the National Agricultural Information System (SIAN) – which is to blame for the systematic denial of compensation requests for damages to crops caused by floods, frost and drought (1) – is also hindering the submission of applications for 2024 CAP aid. #VanghePulite.
1) AGEA, technical and management problems in the IT system
The information gathered from various farmers, agro-technicians and other technicians reveals a number of problems in the IT system managed by AGEA.
1.1) Portal access 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 2024 CAP 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 areas– has shown several anomalies and errors in the management of cadastral data and cultivated areas.
The problems that have emerged raise doubts on 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.
Among other things, this complexity increased the risk of errors in the application compilation, causing further delays and frustration among users.
1.4) Sudden system change
The system change happened just as the deadline for submitting the 2024 CAP 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) The files’ management charges and costs
The files’ cards – in addition to assuming grotesque size, up to 1.200 pages that are incomprehensible to the very farmers who are suppose to sign them – are inconsistent with their graphic elaborations. The alphanumeric system does not seem to be able to receive all the information inserted in the graphic elaboration.
2.1) New graphic processing
The processing of each file is subordinate to the management of all the reports that arise from the new graphic positioning, the new surfaces measurements and the new National Soil Map interpretations. But the graphic processing does not seem to work in various passages such as land uses, associated crops and the indication of plots with different sowing periods.
Each land parcel has to be segmented into dozens and dozens of micro-particles of surface area up to 1 square metre and must still be checked and verified, accepting or rejecting the interpretation proposed by the system. Therefore, tens, hundreds or thousands of individual workings are required for each individual farm. And who will pay for the extra days of work necessitated by a dysfunctional system, the farmers or AGEA (as well as the citizens)? (2,3)
2.2) Bio notifications, PAP, agro-environmental measures
Bio-notifications and the Annual Production Programs (APPs) in turn do not work, according to users, because of the discrepancy between the ‘alphanumeric’ and the graphic file.
Other issues have been found in the coupling of agri-environmental measures. The system rejects applications, operators have to repeat the operation and farmers have to go to the agricultural assistance centres several times.
3) AGEA, ABACO and… Coldiretti
The SIAN (National Agricultural Information System) development and management services 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 assigned to the temporary consortia of companies participating, 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, which is 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’s ras Vincenzo Gesmundo appears on the Board of Directors.
The difficulties encountered in the ABACO system are therefore undermining farmers’ trust in Coldiretti itself, to which the “paternity” of the system is attributed.
4) AGEA, from meetings to the ‘war room’
The deadlines for submitting the 2024 unified application were extended until 30 August 2024, after a heated debate which saw the following opposing sides:
– on one side AGEA and Coldiretti, which declared that its CAAs would conclude their activities by August 10, 2024 at the latest and there were no reasons for further extensions
– on the opposite side the other agricultural confederations and the representatives of the other CAAs, which insisted on the necessary postponement.
The ‘war room’ is the latest ploy of AGEA’s newly appointed director general 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 solve the not insignificant number of 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.
