Brussels, 05/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption, in Strasbourg on Tuesday 4 February, of the report by Czeslaw Adam Siekierski (EPP, Poland) on the future of small agricultural holdings, the European Parliament has called for measures to guarantee the survival of small farms in Europe, which are under constant demographic, commercial and technological pressure. The EP also reiterated the problem of the “rural exodus” in the areas where most of these farms are situated, “leading to a mass abandonment of small-scale farming and an end to the practice of specific local crops”.
The Parliament called for the continuation of the support policy for rural consolidation and of payments to farmers covered by the smallholdings regime who have definitively transferred their land to other farmers.
The MEPs feel that it is vital to fight the rural exodus process and the depopulation of rural areas “as a matter of urgency”, in order to provide smallholdings with a properly adapted environment and long-term prospects for their activities. The member states are called upon to provide targeted subsidies for infrastructure, training opportunities, medical assistance and access to health care, child care, broadband internet access and the creation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas.
Direct sales. The EP calls for an increase in levels of direct sales, particularly of traditional products, on local and regional markets. It calls on the local authorities to do more to promote the development of direct sales infrastructure, particularly local and municipal markets, thereby making it easier for consumers to access “inexpensive, fresh and quality” agricultural produce.
The MEPs believe that, in order to resolve the problems of small farms, other EU instruments should be used in conjunction with the CAP, such as the cohesion policy or the European social fund. The EP welcomes the creation, in the framework of the first pillar of the new CAP, of a support regime for small farms, but laments “the low level of direct payments”.
Additional support from national funds. The member states are called upon to set in place appropriate financial engineering instruments (micro-credit, loans at preferential rates, leasing, first instalment repayments or credit guarantees). The MEPs also spoke in favour of “additional support from national funds”, which could be authorised “under the principles agreed with the European Commission and without harming competition”. The EP takes the view that smallholdings in mountainous or less-favoured areas, as well as in the most remote regions, should be able to enjoy support linked to production, for example for stock breeding activities.
Lastly, the EP recommends an extension of the scope of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) to make it possible to study the situation of smallholdings, the impact of the CAP on these and to predict their future development.
Multiple functions. Smallholdings have a production function, but also play key roles in the delivery of public goods: relating to nature and the countryside (they help to preserve both the characteristic features of Europe's countryside and biodiversity in rural areas), social roles (providing a livelihood for millions of people in Europe, preventing poverty and constituting a workforce reserve for industry and other sectors of the economy, such as tourism), and cultural roles (preserving fine traditions, customs and other non-material heritage and manufacturing regional and traditional products). In addition, small agricultural holdings create favourable conditions for carrying out agricultural activities that are “environmentally friendly and good for animal welfare”. (LC/transl.fl)