IPARD III, the European Union’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for development of agriculture, agri-processing and agri-tourism was presented today and it will fund a total of 146 million euros for Albanian agricultural and rural development. Attending the presentation ceremony of the IPARD III Programme, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that the massive EU funding paves the way towards the success of all entrepreneurs in agriculture.
“The third EU massive funding paves an even wider path for all those who wish to follow your great examples and all those who want to develop their venture. What is happening is an extraordinary innovation in the rural life of our country, which has been delayed. The agri-tourism today, still in a nascent phase, yet it speaks for itself. The reality of a significant number of households involved in such successful agri-tourism projects speaks for itself.
The area of cultivated agricultural land in Albania has doubled as compared to seven or eight years ago.
This is actually the case for several years now, because in addition to the fact that another system has been created and is in place now, because in addition to the fact that such measures have encouraged collection of agricultural products, in addition to stimulating agri-processing through these measures, significant work has been done to build rural roads, construct irrigation systems and despite the global crisis, despite impact of the war on costs, Albania’s agricultural exports have grown compared to the same period of the previous year when no war was going on.
These are facts, stubborn facts.
It was just a few years ago when the export-imports ratio was 1 to seven, with one unit representing exports and seven representing imports. This ratio is 1 to 3 currently, which means that local agriculture production has significantly increased as the arable and cultivated land area has expanded twice as much and production has grown.
The fact that beneficiaries under this programme are all whose work speaks for itself and beneficiaries under this programme are no longer picked based on political party affiliations, they are no longer selected through bribery or other corruption practices, is understood by a very simple thing, the fact that the European Union accredited the payment agency in 2018.
Those who keep alleging and calling for more funds to support the country’s agriculture, if we combine the state budget-provided funds and EU funds, the amount is the largest funding ever injected to the agriculture sector. With the EU certifying and funding agriculture, this means that the time when ARDA was a party branch and agriculture was divided into political party plots and that little money that was n by the party is now over.
This is the time when everyone should run and when we should stay on their side and support everyone presenting convincing projects, because the European Union wants to know for sure that the money it will provide will be used to support these projects. Otherwise, it turns down your application. It is as simple as that.
A total of 437 projects have been already designed and we can prepare 1000 more projects. Therefore I invite everyone to prepare important projects and benefit under the EU-funded programme.
