The Common Agricultural Policy
Within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy, we seek to increase the competitiveness of agriculture in the Czech Republic and to reduce the administrative burden for farmers and the state administration. The Ministry of Agriculture’s priority is also rural development, while preserving and improving the environment and ensuring a good standard of living for our farmers. Agricultural activity is an integral part of rural areas, which deserve our care and support.
Rural Development Programme
In the European Union the Common Agricultural Policy (hereinafter the CAP) is aimed at ensuring food production, export, agricultural and rural development and ensuring a good standard of living for farmers.
One tool for drawing supports from the CAP is the Czech Rural Development Programme 2014–2020 (hereinafter the “RDP 2014–2020”), which was approved by the European Commission on 26 May 2015. It is being spent almost EUR 3.6 billion (nearly CZK 97 billion) into the Czech Republic in the coming years. Of this EUR 2.3 billion (CZK 63 billion) will come from Union resources and EUR 1.3 billion (about CZK 34 billion) from the Czech budget. The contribution from the state budget comes to 35 %.
The main objective of the RDP 2014–2020 is the renewal, maintenance and improvement of ecosystems dependent on agriculture primarily by means of agrienvironmental measures, and then by investments for competitiveness and innovation in agricultural, food industry and forestry enterprises, support for young people to enter into farming and land consolidation.
The RDP 2014–2020 also supports the diversification of economic activities in rural areas in order to create new jobs and boost economic development. Community led local development, or the LEADER approach, will be supported as it contributes to a better targeting of the aid for the local needs of a given rural territory and the development of cooperation between the actors at the local level. The horizontal priority is the transfer of knowledge and innovation in the form of training activities and advice and cooperation in the field of agriculture and forestry.