The Ministry of Agriculture has set five priority objectives for this year, one of which is the drafting of a new development strategy for the sector. The document will provide the groundwork for new legislation and other key programmes, Agriculture Minister Marija Lukacic told the press Monday.
A new strategy is needed considering the implementation of the current development objectives and due to the experience of EU membership. Moreover, Slovenia must define certain key issues before the adoption of the national rural development programme and the introduction of the final scheme for farm subsidies, according to Franci But, the ministry's State Secretary.
The ministry is drafting a new programme for direct payments, which will be based on a "flexible system of regional payments untied from production," said Lukacic. There will be a great re-distribution of funds which will hurt big farms and benefit small ones, stressed But.
The ministry's second key objective will be to complete systemic solutions in agriculture and rural development, to set a legal framework for effective implementation of the EU's common agriculture policy. "This is about improving the transparency of procedures," said Lukacic.
The main problem in this field, said But, is the administrative procedure act, which is "rigid and, in many cases, almost useless". The Agency for Agricultural Markets and Rural development must get its own administrative procedure, he believes.
The third major goal will be a reform of the land policy to improve the now fragmented land holdings of individual farms. The act on farmland will be amended, or a new act on the trading in farmland drafted.
Effective implementation of the common agriculture policy has also been made a priority, in particular beefing up institutions that are part of the project (the Geological Survey, the Farmland Fund, administrative units and others).
The fifth and final objective is creating systematic solutions for fisheries, which will require amendments to the act on marine fisheries and a new act on freshwater fisheries, Lukacic explained.
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