IPA RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, 2014-2020 ANNEX EN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA EU INSTRUMENT FOR PRE-ACCESSION (IPA) RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 2014-2020 IPA RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, 2014-2020 Table of Contents 1. TITLE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME ............................................................ 10 2. COUNTRY PROFILE ................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Geographical area covered by the Programme ...................................................................... 10 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT SITUATION ................................................................... 11 3.1 General socio-economic context .................................................................................................. 11 3.1.1 Definition of areas related to Programme implementation ..................................................... 11 3.1.2 Demographic situation ............................................................................................................................ 12 3.1.3 Administrative system ............................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.4 Economic Drivers, Productivity and Growth .................................................................................. 15 3.1.5 Labour market ............................................................................................................................................. 20 3.1.6 Education system ....................................................................................................................................... 20 3.1.7 Land use and ownership ......................................................................................................................... 22 3.2. Performance of the agricultural, forestry and food sectors ............................................. 25 3.2.1 Competitiveness of Agriculture and Food Processing................................................................ 25 3.2.2 Competitiveness of Forestry Sector ................................................................................................... 49 3.2.3 Competitiveness of Fisheries and aquaculture ............................................................................. 52 3.2.4 Human capital and knowledge transfer ........................................................................................... 53 3.2.5 Agriculture and forestry education .................................................................................................... 54 3.2.6 Advisory services ....................................................................................................................................... 56 3.2.5 Access to credit ........................................................................................................................................... 58 3.3. Environment and land management ......................................................................................... 59 3.3.1 Risks of land abandonment and marginalisation ......................................................................... 59 3.3.2 Climate change impact on agriculture, needs for adaptation and mitigation measures ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 60 3.3.3 Biodiversity especially as linked with agriculture and forestry ............................................ 62 3.3.4 High nature value farming (HNVF)..................................................................................................... 63 3.3.5 Water quality and its link with agriculture ..................................................................................... 64 3.3.6 Greenhouse gas emission ....................................................................................................................... 65 3.3.7 Soil quality and erosion ........................................................................................................................... 66 3.3.8 Renewable energy...................................................................................................................................... 67 3.3.9 Use of pesticides and fertilisers ........................................................................................................... 69 3.4. Rural Economy .................................................................................................................................. 69 3.4.1 Rural Tourism potential .......................................................................................................................... 72 3.4.2 Promotion and development of SME in the rural areas ............................................................ 73 3.4.3 Crafts ................................................................................................................................................................ 74 3.4.4 Provision of services in rural areas .................................................................................................... 75 3.4.5 Infrastructure provision .......................................................................................................................... 76 3.4.6 Cultural heritage and built environment in villages ................................................................... 78 3.5. Preparation and implementation of local development strategies – LEADER .......... 78 As adopted by the Commission Implementing Decision C(2015)760 of 13.02.2015 and amended by the Commission Implementing Decision C(2019)666 of 24.01.2019 2 IPA RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, 2014-2020 3.6. Context related baseline indicators .......................................................................................... 81 4. STRENGHTS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS .................................... 91 4.1. Agriculture, forestry and food industry ................................................................................... 92 4.2. Environment ...................................................................................................................................... 93 4.3. Rural Economy and Quality of Life ............................................................................................. 94 5. MAIN RESULTS OF PREVIOUS INTERVENTION ................................................................ 96 5.1. National support policy for agriculture and rural development. ................................... 96 5.2. Overview of EU assistance............................................................................................................. 98 5.2.1 Overview of IPA-TAIB and TAIEX assistance ................................................................................. 98 5.2.2 Overview of IPARD I implementation ............................................................................................... 99 5.3. Overview of bilateral and multilateral assistance ............................................................ 102 5.4. Lessons learnt from past EU, bilateral and multilateral assistance ........................... 105 5.5. Lessons learnt from IPARD I implementation .................................................................... 105 6. DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATEGY ...................................................................................... 108 6.1. Description of the Programme rural development strategy ......................................... 108 6.1.1 National Strategy Objectives for Agriculture and Rural Development ............................ 108 6.1.2 IPA II Objectives for Agriculture and Rural Development Policy Area ............................ 111 6.2. Identification of the needs and summary of overall strategy ....................................... 112 6.2.1. Enhancing farm viability and competitiveness of agriculture and food processing . 120 6.2.2 Restoring, preserving and enhancing ecosystems dependent on agriculture and forestry ................................................................................................................................................................... 121 6.2.3 Promoting balanced territorial development in rural areas ................................................ 122 6.2.4 Transfer of knowledge and innovation in agriculture, forestry and rural areas ......... 123 6.2.5 Horizontal and cross-cutting priorities ......................................................................................... 124 6.3. Consistency between proposed IPARD intervention and Country Strategy Paper (CSP) ........................................................................................................................................................... 124 6.4. Intervention logic of the Programme, measures and quantified targets ................. 127 7. PROGRAMME FINANCIAL PLAN.......................................................................................... 131 7.1. Maximum EU Contribution for IPARD funds 2014-2020, in EUR ................................. 131 7.2 Budget of EU Contribution by measure 2014-2020, in EUR (for monitoring purposes only) ........................................................................................................................................................... 131 7.3 Percentage