Rural Development Plan's measures explained

Last week we outlined a general introduction to the Rural Development Plan for Malta (RDP) - the new policy drafted by the Rural Development Department in the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment (MRAE) which aligns Malta with the European Union with regard to the regulations and measures pertinent to rural development, namely EC Regulations 1257/1999 and 1783/2003.

Today we will discuss the measures in the RDP and how their underlying principles and objectives are targeted to tackle the constraints faced by the agricultural sector and how they will help farmers to benefit from EU accession.

The RDP's role was, first, to identify the most important priorities in agriculture and, second, to outline what measures could be used to undertake them.

The RDP's measures are activities that will help to achieve the objectives and priorities set out to improve and maximise the rural sector's resources. They offer financial aid for specific issues like the building of rubble walls to preserve local biodiversity and prevent soil erosion, setting up producer groups to enable farmers to improve their administration and quality standards, etc.

Who will be responsible for receiving the applications for aid?

The Paying Agency within the MRAE will be the body responsible for receiving the applications for aid from farmers. This agency will keep and administer a computerised database, which will contain all the data obtained from the aid applications. It is also responsible for co-ordinating and effecting payments.

Which measures are there?

The first measure within the RDP is Producer Groups. Since our agricultural land is fragmented into small holdings, this measure aims to help farmers to come together and overcome some structural disadvantages that small businesses confront when compared to larger ones.

For example, members of a producer group could optimise their production by adapting and planning their individual output and jointly placing it on the market, as well as centralising the preparation, sales and supply. In addition this would lead to improved quality of primary and processed products, as well as more functional marketing and production activities.

The support will be granted towards the establishment of the administrative capacity and the operational costs. This will be granted in annual instalments for the first five years. The amount will be calculated on the group's annual marketed production.

The second measure, Agri-environment, aims to promote the protection, maintenance and enhancement of the traditional rural environment of the Maltese islands by farmers. This will begin by increasing the level of environmental awareness and responsibility among all participating farmers to improve the landscape quality and increase local biodiversity.

The measure will consist of voluntary undertakings which participating farmers will agree to follow in return for annual payments for a minimum of five years.

Malta's farming sector will face an immediate challenge upon accession, as tariffs on agricultural products imported from other EU member states will be dismantled. Our domestic market prices will be expected to fall. Therefore a special measure will be incorporated in the programming period 2004-2006 of the Rural Development Plan - an ad hoc measure that will provide specific temporary support for full-time farmers.

To address the challenges of levy dismantling a Special Market Policy Programme for Maltese Agriculture (SMPPMA) was designed to provide direct income support for farmers and herdsmen. The subsidies for all sectors were calculated on the basis of price difference between local and EU prices, and also included transport costs.

Another important role of the SMPPMA is to safeguard typical Maltese products that are not supported by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). These products fall into seven sectors: tomatoes for processing, potatoes, wine, pig meat, dairy, eggs and poultry meat.

The programme comprises assistance to producers in direct income support, additional aid on an area basis, marketing aid, planting aid, restructuring aid and quality enhancement.

The Complements to State Aid measure provides, under the RDP, additional funds directed to the SMPPMA's strategy to assist in the growth and development of agricultural production in Malta.

During the negotiations on agriculture, the EU agreed that all the 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Maltese Islands should qualify for funds eligible under the Less Favoured Area measure. In fact agriculture occupies 37 per cent of the Maltese territory, thus having particular importance in shaping the rural landscape.

Therefore protecting agriculture would mean preserving the rural character of the landscape and our cultural heritage, especially given that our natural habitats are a national resource, which provides a recreational backdrop for both locals and tourists.

The most recent measure, Meeting Standards, states that support may be granted to help farmers to adapt to demanding standards based on European Community (EC) legislation on the environment, public, animal welfare and occupational safety. However in Malta's case this shall solely be limited to the observation of the Nitrates Directive, which has stringent standards with regard to the amount of nitrates allowed to be dispersed into the environment.

Therefore this measure is intended as temporary support to contribute to the costs incurred by livestock breeders only, in complying with standards. For example, setting up facilities for manure to reduce leaching.

The last measure, Technical Assistance, provides MRAE ongoing crucial assistance for the successful implementation of the RDP, especially expertise in programming and management.

Two broad objectives for this measure are:

1. To build and/or reinforce the institutional and administrative capacity of the national, regional and local level institutions which are responsible for formulating and implementing the scheme, including the functions of control, monitoring and evaluation and

2. To provide appropriate information and technical support to those farmers who are either preparing to join, or already participating in, such schemes. Next week, we will outline the eligibility criteria for funding within the measures, explain where and how to apply for aid made available under the RDP and define the role of the Rural Development Department.

Aim Of Ad Hoc Measure - To enable full-time farmers to adapt to the changes in the market environment resulting from removal of levies upon accession.

¤ Provide compensation for adjustment, for a limited time period on a degressive basis, to full-time farmers for losses in market share and decline in net incomes that could result as a consequence of levy removal and single market competition following EU accession

- Help full-time farmers address the gaps in farm income and cash flow during the period following accession (restructure businesses, improve technology, management and husbandry systems, and scale)

Aim Of Less Favoured Area Measure - To compensate for naturally less-favoured areas to ensure continued agricultural land use.

¤ Ensure continued agricultural land use and thereby contribute to the maintenance of a viable rural community

¤ Maintain countryside

¤ Maintain and promote sustainable farming systems that in particular take account of environmental protection requirements.

Priorities of RDP

¤ Modernise holdings with respect to quality and competitiveness to offer more differentiated, higher quality products and services to domestic consumers and foreign tourists, thus making farming a viable and more attractive career choice for younger people

¤ Promote environmentally friendly production methods in line with rural heritage

¤ Diversify and develop the multifunctional role of rural enterprises

¤ Successfully implement the RDP

Aim of producer group measure - To improve the market efficiency of the agricultural sector by increasing the number of producer groups.

¤ Protect or increase the market share of producers and ensure that their production is as market oriented as possible

¤ Increase the capacity of producers to access market information and to undertake new marketing activities to promote the placing on the market of the products produced

¤ Improve producers' ability to meet legislative and other constraints by promoting production techniques that are environmentally sound and along national lines

Aim Of Agri-Environment Measure - To encourage an increased level of environmental awareness and responsibility among all participating farmers by:

¤ Encouraging the use of simple environmental planning techniques by the farmer to increase the farmer's awareness of the environmental features and resources on his/her farmland

¤ Increasing the farmer's awareness of his/her day-to-day management decisions through more detailed record keeping, via the following sub-measures:

- Reducing the incidence of soil erosion by wind and water by restoring and maintaining terrace rubble walls

- Conserving and enhancing indigenous species (the Maltese Ox and the Holm Oak)

- Encouraging the use of simple environmental practices via the promotion of organic farming methods

Aim Of Meeting Standards Measure - To provide support to help farmers to adapt to demanding standards in the fields of the environment, public, animal welfare and occupational safety.

¤ A more rapid implementation of demanding European Community standards by Member States

¤ The respect of those standards by farmers

Aim Of Technical Assistance Measure - To implement successfully the 2004-2006 Rural Development Plan.

¤ To facilitate the implementation of all other measures of this Plan

¤ Provide potential beneficiaries of the RDP support with information on the European Union agricultural policy, support rendered under the RDP, as well as conditions of obtaining the said support

¤ To improve the system of the supervision of the RDP implementation and evaluation of the achieved progress

¤ Inform the public on the role of the European Union in implementing the RDP

Melanie Giorgi, M.Sc. (Lond.) is a scientific officer at the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment