14/12/2015
Greece's Rural Development Programme (RDP) was officially adopted. For the 2014-2020 period €4.7 billion will be allocated from the EU budget.
Greece's Rural Development Programme (RDP) focuses mainly on strengthening farm viability and competitiveness, preserving and enhancing ecosystems and fostering the local development in rural areas.
Aid will be available to farmers to bring 10.3% of agricultural land under contracts to preserve biodiversity, 12.1% to improve water management and 10.7% to improve soil management and/or prevent soil erosion. It is expected that 6,300 farms will benefit from support for restructuring and modernizing their businesses and 23,900 young farmers will receive start-up aid. In addition, over 8,300 agricultural holdings will receive support to set up short supply chains, develop local markets and launch promotion activities, while 600 agri-food businesses will receive support for investments in the agricultural products processing and marketing sector. Supporting knowledge and innovation takes up more than 6% of the earmarked public expenditure with the creation of 86,640 training places for farmers and rural businesses.
The RDP will also provide support for local development to Local Action Groups through the Leader initiative covering almost half the rural population and will enhance the access to basic services for approximately 10% of the population in rural areas, including information technology infrastructures (e.g. broadband internet).
The adoption of Greece's programme marks the end of the adoption process for all 118 RDPs of all 28 member states.
Programme for Rural Development of Greece
Announcement
Last modification date: 17/2/2016