[Objectives]:
The ultimate goal of the current programme is the development of sustainable and competitive agricultural production chains in pre-accession countries and in new member states, which is pursued through capacity building on research, training, extension and institutions.
Increased sustainability and competitiveness of the agricultural sector and supply chains in European Union pre-accession countries and new member states will be beneficial for the economies in these countries. Eventually these developments will benefit the European Union as a whole due to an enlarged consumer market after accession of new member states. Moreover these developments will also improve food safety for all European Union citizens, which is also relevant for the Dutch Government.
On an agricultural level, the European Union as a whole will benefit from the transition process of current agricultural production systems in the pre-accession countries and in the new member states, to sustainable, competitive and modern, state-of-the-art agricultural production and distribution systems. The focus will be on environmentally friendly and sustainable production systems and efficient, transparent and traceable distribution systems. Knowledge developed by Dutch research institutes is helpful to the pre-accession countries and the new member states in improving local production and distribution systems. This can be done by transfer of knowledge and by transferring methodological experience in supporting and directing such a transition process.
Apart from capacity building on sustainability and competitiveness, other key elements in the programme are food safety, quality management, organic production, training and strengthening research and extension and knowledge transfer.
Programme activities are executed in close co-operation with relevant local institutes, organisations and networks.
Counterparts have been identified, and will be further identified, that play a key-role in development and implementation of the aforementioned topics such as sustainability, competitiveness, food safety and quality in product chains. Through this co-operation it will be guaranteed that transferred knowledge and desired developments are sustainable.
[Activities]:
The activities carried out in the projects are described in detail, together with the deliverables, in the full project descriptions.
[Results]:
Expected outputs for 2006 have been defined in detail in the project descriptions of the separate projects in the programme |
