Support available for the development of small farms

Until June 30, the Rural Support Service will accept project applications for the event “Support for starting a business by developing small farms”, which provides a one-time grant of 15,000 euros to farms whose annual turnover ranges between 2,000 and 15,000 euros.

The total available funding is set at 18,747,336 euros, which is distributed among the regional offices of the Latvian State Radio and Television as follows:

Eastern Latgale – 2,251,777 million (150 projects), Southern Kurzeme 2,157,324 million (143 projects), Southern Latgale – 3,406,010 million (227 projects), Greater Riga – 1,757,174 million (117 projects), Central Latvia – 2,067,249 million (137 projects), Zemgale – 1,606,608 million (107 projects), Northern East – 1,922,267 million (128 projects), Northern Kurzeme – 1,120,782 million (74 projects), Northern Vidzeme – 2,458,145 million (163 projects).

Supported sectors are defined – crop production, livestock farming, dairy farming, cattle breeding, pig farming, horse breeding, sheep breeding, goat breeding, beekeeping, other livestock farming sectors.

In turn, applicants for support may be a legal entity, a private individual or a farm. The applicant for support prepares a project application, which includes a business plan, in cooperation with a consulting service provider working in the agricultural sector.

To receive support, the jointly owned or leased agricultural land must not exceed 50 hectares. If the land is leased, the lease term must not be shorter than five years from the date of submission of the project application. In addition, higher or secondary vocational agricultural education is also required, or basic agricultural knowledge acquired in the amount of at least 160 hours, and the applicant for support must also demonstrate five years of work experience in the field of agriculture. If the aforementioned education has not been acquired, basic agricultural knowledge acquired in the amount of at least 160 hours must be acquired during the implementation of the project.

The farm will receive funding in installments - 80% or 12,000 euros will be received before the investment is made, upon presentation of prepayment invoices, but 20% of the funding or 3,000 euros will be disbursed only after the project has been successfully implemented and the set goals have been achieved.

Let us remind you that the total number of applicants for support in this program throughout the 2014-2020 programming period could reach 2,370 people. The project is fully financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

According to statistics, 56.5% or 46,000 Latvian farms produce products only for self-consumption, and the majority of these farms are small farms with a turnover of up to 4,000 euros.