Over €80 million in benefits have not been claimed from 2014 to date, commissioner for agricultural payments (Capo) Andreas Kyprianou told the House finance committee on Monday.

Kyprianou added that 300 young farmers were receiving grants and had entered rural development programmes, which was “encouraging for the future of the sector”.

He said that Capo, which was established in 1999, had paid out a total of €2.21 billion so far.

In 2024 alone, Capo funded the agricultural sector with €119.5 million for rural development programmes and various payments to farmers.

Kyprianou said the prospects were encouraging, however there was a problem with the funding tools.

“This is our big problem. Today there is money to be collected by applicants, exceeding €80 million, since 2014,” he explained.

One of the reasons, he said, was that successful applicants still had to pay their investment in full before getting 60 per cent back.

The committee was examining Capo’s €17.5 million budget for 2025.