New Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing says the Scottish government is "sorry" about delays processing EU payments to farmers, but said "we are fixing it".
Ahead of Mr Ewing's Holyrood statement, Scottish Labour said the handling of the process had been "chaotic and shambolic".
Outlining the latest position, the secretary said that currently 84 per cent of Scotland’s farmers had now received payments totalling over £200 million.
He said that over 5,000 loans worth over £90m had been paid under the national measures, adding that over 40 per cent of these had already been converted to actual payments.
Admitting that the government’s performance had fallen well short of what it had hoped for – and accepting that this had caused real hardship for many farming businesses and families, Ewing told the chamber that his top priority would be getting the payments made before the end of June.
Mr Ewing said 30 June was a "challenging" deadline, and said his predecessor Richard Lochhead had made efforts with the EU to have it extended.
Laying out his current work plan, Ewing said: "One – we will see the payments for 2015 completed. Two – we will deliver compliance and minimise penalties to producers. And three – we will place the 2016 scheme on an even keel."
The money is meant to improve agricultural productivity and to ensure farmers have a reliable income. It is due to be paid out to farmers and crofters before a 30 June deadline.
