EU announces grants for Turkish Cypriot farmers and rural enterprises

The European Commission has announced that a total of 188 Turkish Cypriot farmers and rural enterprises have been awarded EU funding to help bring their operation in line with EU standards and best practices.
There are two Rural Development Grant Schemes, namely Improving Agricultural Production and Supporting Rural Enterprise, which are funded under the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community, which is managed by the European Commission.
The first scheme for Improving Agricultural Production provides financial support for equipment purchase to farmers and growers in three sectors, namely dairy, crop and horticultural production. Beneficiaries will be able to improve their methods of production to reach EU standards.
Following a competitive evaluation process, 141 grants ranging from EUR15,000 to EUR100,000 were awarded for a total value of almost EUR5 mln, offering up to 65% of investment support to the best projects.
The second scheme for ''Supporting Rural Enterprise'' was launched in June 2009 to provide support to small and medium enterprises in rural areas. It aims at introducing new technologies to improve production quality, environmental and occupational safety and hygiene.
A total of 47 grants ranging from EUR10,000 to 150,000 were awarded 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 tourism, rural micro-enterprises and small-scale fisheries and aquaculture.
An award ceremony will take place in the occupied by Turkey areas of Cyprus on February 24.