On March 22, 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy promoted the project “Support for Development of Agricultural Cooperatives”.
The project will be implemented by CARE Deutschland-Luxembourg and the Macedonian Enterprise Development Foundation (MEDF).
The duration of the project is 38 months.
The project is funded by the European Union through the budget line: Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance – IPA II.
The aim of the project is to increase the market competitiveness and the cooperation among farmers, by creating favorable conditions for the development of the existing ones and the creation of new agricultural cooperatives.
The project has planned a series of activities for achieving the following results:
- Revised legal framework for agricultural cooperatives through the cooperation of the project team, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Umbrella organization of agricultural cooperatives. The following activities will be carried out: in-depth analysis of the legal framework and policies for agricultural cooperatives, formulation of proposed amendments followed by a public discussion, establishment of a working group and debate on possible solutions, support for the establishment of a system for monitoring agricultural cooperatives.
- Strengthened capacity of an umbrella organization of agricultural cooperatives that will receive technical and financial support.
- Increased awareness among farmers, businesses and the general public about the benefits of co-operatives by conducting a campaign to raise public awareness of the benefits of co-operatives and info sessions with local communities.
- Technical and financial support has been provided for the development of 8 existing and for the creation of 12 new agricultural cooperatives for realization of their business plans and advising in the process of their realization.
The promotion was attended by representatives of the government institutions responsible for the development of agriculture sector in the country, representatives of the media, donors, domestic and international organizations, as well as representatives of agricultural cooperatives.
The event was attended by Ljupco Nikolovski, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Konstantinos Soupilas, Representative of the Delegation of the European Union, Vesna Jovanovic, Regional Coordinator of CARE Deutschland-Luxembourg, Tetjana Lazarevska, MEDF Executive Director, Dragan Peric, Project Manager CARE Deutschland-Luxembourg.
