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It is a great pleasure to attend and welcome for the first time today's meetings of the Monitoring Committees of the co-financed programmes under the Common Agricultural Policy. I am even more pleased to hold these meetings in a beautiful Community of mountainous Cyprus, the Community of Kalopanayiotis, which is a model of successful development and revitalization of our countryside.
This is a particularly challenging period, as the implementation of both the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027 coincide. For both co-funded projects there is significant progress and there are also important positive developments, which I am pleased to announce.
The recent announcements of the two most important development measures of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, a) Scheme 4.1 for providing financial support for investments in the primary sector and b) Measure 6.1 for providing support for the first establishment of new farmers have shown the strong interest of the farming community for the modernisation of existing farms. The applications received and positively assessed by the CFCA represent a total grant amount of €70 million compared to €36 million foreseen in the original call for proposals. The management of this issue was one of the first immediate challenges that the new governance in agriculture and rural development issues had to face.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, having studied the issue in all seriousness, decided to approve all applications meeting the eligibility criteria, doubling the initial budget of the two calls for proposals. Just recently, on Wednesday 31 May 2023, the Council of Ministers was informed of our Ministry's intention to approve all eligible applicants granting funding in excess of €70 million for the development of our primary sector at such a critical time for our farmers. I would like to stress that the investments to be approved will largely involve the use of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the primary sector with a decisive contribution to improving the overall performance of farms (economic and environmental). It is also particularly important to note that the aid is primarily intended for young people who are either setting up in agriculture for the first time as farm leaders or are existing young farmers. As you will see in the near future, our young people will continue to be the focus of our policy and our attention because we truly believe that they are the future of Cypriot agriculture. Only by laying a solid foundation for the future will we be able to improve the competitiveness of our products and at the same time revitalise our countryside.
Friends,
This year is particularly pivotal as the new framework of direct extensification and capitation payments as outlined in the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 is now being implemented. The first call for the Single Application for Extensive Subsidies under the new framework, which ended a few days ago, was again characterised by broad participation of our farming community. According to the figures, more than 30,000 applications were submitted, which are currently being examined by the Payments Agency so that we can reach our target of more than €60 million in payments within the year. We have been particularly pleased to see most of the interventions implemented for the first time this year being embraced by our farming community. I mention as an example some of the new funding opportunities for our farmers such as the actions related to the promotion of the circular economy (for example composting and shredding of branches) and biodiversity conservation through the intervention for biodiversity islands in cereals. Regarding head measures, we are pleased to see the massive participation of our pig farmers in the intervention implemented for the first time and aimed at reducing the use of antibiotics in pigs. I would like to note at this point that our Ministry intends to build on the experience of this first year of implementation in order to be able to improve, always in consultation with the European Commission, specific provisions that may need to be differentiated.
You will have the opportunity to hear about all this in detail later in today's meeting. This is also the purpose of the Monitoring Committee, to monitor the progress and quality of the Plans, in cooperation with the Managing Authority. The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment is in constant consultation with all stakeholders, the members of the Monitoring Committee and, in particular, with the farmers' organisations. We are working in full transparency in an open dialogue with civil society and the rural world to jointly achieve the most appropriate policy mix for the benefit of our society and our rural world.
In conclusion, I would like to thank all those involved in the implementation and management of the Plans in this intense and pressing period. Warm thanks to all Departments and Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment and especially to the Department of Agriculture, the Cyprus Rural Payments Agency and of course to the Managing Authority of the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 for coordinating the whole effort. Finally, I would like to thank the European Commission and especially the unit responsible for Cyprus, with whom we have established an excellent cooperation.
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