The Court of Auditors of the canton of Vaud looked into the management of subsidies for agricultural land improvements (AF). Although the conclusions of its audit were rather positive, it detected gaps in terms of monitoring and controls on the ground. She made eight recommendations to address this.
The Court of Auditors focused on two framework credits totaling 54 million francs between 2019 and 2023. “The audit concludes that the audited entities carry out the examination of requests with diligence and speed. However, there are several significant potential for improvement,” she wrote in a press release on Wednesday.
AF subsidies for the construction of agricultural infrastructure concern two types of beneficiaries. These are on the one hand public authorities wishing, for example, to repair a municipal agricultural road, and on the other hand individual operators wishing to build a stable, a manure pit, or even a washing place.
Three actors under the microscope
Three entities were audited. The General Directorate of Agriculture, Viticulture and Veterinary Affairs (DGAV), responsible for the granting, management and monitoring of these subsidies, was on the front line.
The DGAV examines requests from public authorities. Requests from individual farmers go through the Agricultural Credit Office (OCA), a subsidiary of the Prométerre association. The latter was therefore also audited.
Finally, the Directorate General for the Environment (DGE) was also in the sights of the Court of Auditors, because it sometimes pays subsidies in addition to those of the DGAV. In addition, the DGE is called upon to issue conditions for building permits, prior to subsidies from the DGAV.
Finger-pointing surveillance
If the examination of the requests inspired laudatory words from the Court of Auditors, it nevertheless identified “aspects (…) which could be improved” in the management of this aid. The Court thus criticizes the DGAV for not fully implementing sustainable development in the award criteria, “despite the laws in force”. She further considers that the DGAV “should systematically refuse to subsidize a FA project tainted by non-compliance with the law on public procurement”.
The Court further notes that “the DGAV does not exercise its mission of high supervision over the management of subsidies, the conformity of the execution of the works and the control of the maintenance of the subsidized works”. A task “all the more essential as part of the processing of requests is delegated externally to the OCA”. It was also criticized for not covering “the risk of ineffectiveness of the subsidy, i.e. the gap between the planned and actual use” of a project.
The Biodiversity and Landscape Division of the DGE was also singled out by the Court. Indeed, despite its “monitoring and control skills for the protection of nature and the landscape” and the fact that it imposes conditions on the leaders of an AF project, “it does not monitor the implementation artwork”. As for the OCA, it attracted the attention of auditors for having “stopped its field controls since 2021”.
Improvements by the end of 2025
The three audited entities have already taken measures during the audit, writes the Court. However, it made a total of eight recommendations: six to the DGAV “to fulfill its surveillance (…) and control missions”, one to the OCA relating to the resumption of field visits and one to the DGE relating to better monitoring of biodiversity requirements.
The entities concerned accepted the recommendations. They should have implemented them by the end of 2025. In a press release, the Council of State also said it had taken note of the recommendations. He views the audit “as an opportunity for continuous improvement in land improvement management processes.” Several measures and projects are already underway to respond to the challenges identified in the audit, underlines the government.
It specifies that the sustainability criteria “are now integrated into the new regulation on financial measures in favor of land improvements, which entered into force on January 1, 2024”.
The canton of Vaud distributes more than 10 million francs in AF subsidies each year for the construction of agricultural infrastructure. Since 2010, the Grand Council has approved six framework credits, totaling 193 million francs, while an additional 30 million should be committed by the Council of State by 2029.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
