EU/NORTHERN CYPRUS : COMMUNITY FUNDING FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND YOUTH EXCHANGES.

• Position: Brief article

A total of 188 Turkish Cypriot farmers and rural enterprises have been awarded EU funding (under the EU aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community) to help bring their operation in line with EU standards and best practices, the European Commission announced on 22 February. Some 141 grants, ranging from 15,000 to 100,000, were awarded under the 2008 rural development grant schemes Improving Agricultural Production', for a total value of almost 5,000,000, offeringasupport for equipment purchase to farmers and growers in three sectors: dairy, crop and horticultural production. A further 47 grants ranging from 10,000 to 150,000 were awarded, under the 2009 scheme Supporting Rural Enterprise', to local entrepreneurs to modernise and upgrade post-harvest technologies for cereals, fruit, vegetable and potato and dairy processing, and to develop alternative rural incomes including rural...