The Scottish government has spent over £200 million on external consultants to help administer agricultural support payments, according to media reports.
On average, more than £20m has been paid out each year to firms to advise and administer the payments over the last nine years, ITV News has found.
The total spend is just over £203 million since 2016, with the significant majority of it going to three external companies.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon told the broadcaster that the firms were providing IT services rather than simply consulting on how to run the programmes.
But Finlay Carson, Scottish Conservative MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, said this was an "astonishing sum of money that the SNP have squandered".
He called on government ministers to "get a grip" on costs and ensure that the money being spent on consultants was fair for taxpayers.
“Ministers cannot keep farmers and the wider agriculture in the dark over what is happening with how this system is operating," Mr Carson added.
"Their previous IT system turned out to be a total disaster in terms of delivering payments and we’ve known for some time that this version simply is not fit for purpose.
“This is a huge drain on the public finances yet Jim Fairlie, as the relevant SNP minister, is still pretending everything is fine.
“This is not just about the cost of the system, it is also about future policies to deliver a just transition for farmers being put at risk."
Ms Gougeon told ITV that all the contracts were "subject to Scottish government procurement procedures to ensure value for money".
She said: “These payments are for IT services, not consultancy, to deliver ongoing operational delivery, maintenance, modernisation, cybersecurity and development to a range of areas, including vital farming support payments.
“Expenditure has reduced in recent years, and we have seen consistent improvement in agriculture support payment performance and lower costs as a result of these investments – meaning money is reaching farmers more quickly."
