AGRICULTURE SECTOR IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA – CURRENT SITUATION AND DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES

Macedonia needs a balance between the goals of economic progress, social development and environmental protection. The basic reasons for this lies in the decrease of the exporting competitiveness of the Macedonian agricultural sector. This negative tendency results in losing the export markets, and also in a strong pressure put by the foreign producers. What is known is that Macedonia has strong comparative advantages when it comes to food producing. Those comparative advantages have to be supported by enhancing the competitive advantages the main purpose of which would be enabling more dynamic export of high-quality agricultural products from Macedonia.agriculture, development, Macedonia

Financial Measures and Instruments for Adjustment of Agriculture for EU Accession

Agricultural development is the first and the main priority of the Republic of Croatia. Agricultural land comprises more than a half of te land area of the Republic of Croatia, almost 48 % of the population live in rural areas and the share of agriculture in GNP amounts to approximately 10%. Since the Republic of Croatia wants to join the EU in near future various sorts of harmonisation of Croatian legislature with acquis communautaire are necessary. The process of harmonisation in the field of agriculture is especially demanding and multi-layered. Sustainability and multifunctionality of agricultural production and rural regions are the very bases of modern agricultural policy in the most developed countries, including the EU. The negotiations held on agriculture between the Republic of Croatia and the EU make even 50% of the total negotiations, which additionally emphasizes the importance of agriculture. Competitiveness of the national agriculture can increase substantially with the help of the preaccession funds, which is the topic of the paper. SAPARD stands out as the most important among them; within this fond the Republic of Croatia can have use of 25 million euros. The same amount is provided for the new preaccession fund IPARD that will replace SAPARD next year. The aims of these funds are to prepare the candidate countries, i.e. Croatia for their participation in EU common market when it comes to accession.agriculture, EU, preaccession funds, SAPARD, IPARD

Agricultural Land Markets and Land Leasing in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The aim of this study is to identify the driving forces that shape agricultural land structures, land market and land leasing in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Institutional developments and land reforms have so far been modest in the FYROM, and have not contributed to significant changes in agricultural ownership, operational structures, or land market and land leasing arrangements. Land ownership and land use are bimodal, consisting of several small-scale family farms and a few large-scale agricultural enterprises. The small family farms own and operate land on several small parcels, which is one of the major obstacles to the modernisation of family farm production. They produce food for household subsistence with mixed crop, fruit, vegetable, grapevine and livestock production. A considerable portion of the land is uncultivated, which affects land market and land leasing values. Due to underdeveloped institutional frameworks and market institutions in support of small-scale farms, a large proportion of state-owned land is rented by agricultural enterprises.

Rural Development Policies in European Union Membership Process: Evaluation in case of Turkey and Albania

This study examines situation of Turkey and Albanian rural areas and problems areasin the context of EU integration. The new policy instruments and their using to adoptCAP reforms in these countries were discussed in the study. Furthermore, Instrumentfor Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds was review for both countries. As a resultthese funds will be carried out just four sector, milk, meat, chicken, and fruitvegetableand aqua products for 2007-2013 period (290 million Euro) in Turkey.Albania look like as a potential member of EU, the limited efficiency of Albanianagriculture, the output and income generated from agriculture is low, as compared toEU standards. To promote EU standards, 1323 million Euro (the share of IPA is 4.6 % oftotal amount) will be used for 2008-2010 for integration to EU by Albania

Some Geographical Aspects of Rural Development with view of Montenegro: A Review

The paper discusses some geographical aspects of rural development with view of Montenegro. According to development of a heterogeneous, rural areas lag behind the urban and industrial, so the problem must be given more attention. In this regard, the European Union provides a powerful impetus to social and territorial cohesion of rural areas and attempt to provide a more efficient valorization of local development potential, in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. Privacy and promote rural development in Montenegro is in the interest of the whole society, and investing in the range of industries in rural areas increases their attractiveness, encourages sustainable growth and employment opportunities, especially for young employees willing and able to accept the new philosophy of development

Evaluating an information campaign about rural development policies in (FYR) Macedonia

This paper investigates the effects of an information campaign about a governmental rural development program (RDP) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the farmers’ intention to participate in the RDP. In the course of a survey among farmers, the treatment group received an information brochure with relevant details on selected RDP measures, while the control group received no information. Even though the intervention had been planned as experiment, randomization was not properly conducted, requiring sample adjustments and controlling for observed covariates in the estimation process. The results suggest that while the intervention succeeded in informing farmers, it had a negative, albeit marginally statically significant, effect on farmers’ reported possibility and intention to use RDP support in the near future. Evidence from further outcome variables suggests that this may be due to the information about administrative burden associated with RDP participation provided in the brochure. We also find that the negative effect is driven by the subsample of unprofitable farmers