Eighteen months after floods washed away the livelihoods of thousands of farm households, Serbian agriculture is getting back on track – thanks to help from the European Union and FAO. A second phase of assistance for central and western Serbia started in the summer and is now close to completion. More...

Extending the definition of small scale fisheries is a recurrent issue in policy and research debates. A broader definition of small scale fisheries would need to encompass, in addition to vessel size attributes such as vessel length, variables relating to their local operational range,their social role in coastal communities and...

Hosted on CIHEAM’s website (ciheam.org), the Mediterranean Observatory aims at contributing to the exchange of ideas by providing information and analyses on agriculture, food and development within the Euro-Mediterranean area. In this regard, various statistical indicators were collected and processed in order to offer essential information for all those who,...

The Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) has achieved Millennium Development Goal 1C, to halve the proportion of undernourished people, with undernourishment at less than 5 percent in the region since 2010-12, the lowest of all five FAO regions. All countries in the region have made considerable progress in reducing...

The transition from Socialism to Capitalism occurred in many countries worldwide, but nowhere was it so sharp as in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Many researchers studied this process since the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989. Twenty-five years later, an international workshop was...

Open Farm Sunday is an annual event involving almost 400 farms that organise activities for over 200000 visitors. Since it began in 2006, over 1350 farmers have opened up their farms, welcoming more than 1.25 million visitors and creating a high-profile national event that attracts major sponsors. Farmers are provided...

The potential for success in ensuring that agriculture is both competitive and viable under the new Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) will depend particularly on engagement with farmers, foresters and land managers, as well as their representative bodies and advisors. In this article, we consider the relevance of rural development objectives...

Summer pasture farming i Norway, short introduction

Agriculture plays an important economic, social and cultural role in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is also a country with a very high percentage (over 34 %) of its territory falling in Natura 2000 areas. Therefore, the implementation of CAP rules and supporting mechanisms plays a crucial role for conservation of these areas....

Sustainable management of natural resources and climate action are at the heart of the rural development objectives 2014-2020. This article argues that this can only be achieved through active and broad stakeholder engagement. Such engagement is necessary at one level to ensure that the full range of actors on the...

The diversity of agriculture in the world reflects the immense variety of societies and natural environments on the planet. Indeed, agricultural systems range from various types of shifting slash-and-burn practices – sometimes very similar to those of the first sedentary human groups – to quasi-automated agricultures in some regions of...

Balanced territorial development seeks to ensure that rural development benefits the full range of rural stakeholders and local communities. It is about diversifying rural economies to create jobs and opportunities in a range of sectors of activity, reducing poverty, and supporting vibrant local communities. The local level is often the...

We often hear ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation processes described as time-consuming and bureaucratic, undertaken without adequate information, real representation, or time to discuss and report back. Too often they are carried out as a formality with no chance of influencing well established mechanisms of non-transparent decision-making. We will argue here that...

Communication can be used as a strategic tool to support and improve stakeholder engagement. Done effectively, it can help different types of rural development stakeholders understand why, when and how they can benefit from engaging in the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs). Good communication is essential for ensuring stakeholders find out...

Small family farms are in general extensively managed in Estonia and are in general structured in a way which facilitates outdoor systems (e.g. pastures convenient to the animal housing). Having said that, there are no specific conditions in the Pillar 1 payment rules which would exclude intensive or indoor farming...

Gains in political commitment around Family Farming were one of the most notable results of International Year of Family Farming IYFF-2014. Not just because of reaping results in the form of numerous laws, programmes and other specific public policy improvements, but also because of the spirit of collaboration and understanding...

Policy networks are usually seen as a ‘new mode of governance’ that allows more flexibility and more informal involvement of a wider set of stakeholders in policy design and implementation compared to more formal consultation processes. In this article, we examine the specific characteristics of the rural policy networks (National...

The call on Sustainable Food Security dedicates €431 million to ensure sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all, while safeguarding natural resources. Tackling the challenge of how to feed 9 billion people sustainably by 2050, this call puts approaches that aim at using nature and resources better at the heart...

More than half a billion people live in the European Union. Every one of these EU citizens can benefit from rural development policy outcomes that produce better quality food, as well as a vibrant and healthy countryside where people can live, work and visit. Member States’ Rural Development Programmes (RDPs)...

The €128 million Rural Renaissance call is about opportunities for sustainable rural growth, looked at through integrated approaches, cutting across sectors and taking a territorial perspective. It has the ambition to modernise policies and governance, and foster new business developments. The projects should boost innovation, advising and demonstration approaches in...