Background
Farmer organisations are underdeveloped in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (the beneficiary country) and farmers are not putting enthusiasm in setting-up cooperatives. Small dimension, fragmentation and lack of co-ordination are the major weaknesses of domestic agricultural cooperatives and this reflects in their incapacity to generate good benefits for the members. Currently, there are 103 agricultural cooperatives in the beneficiary country, but only 30 have updated their legal status according to the new law on agricultural cooperatives and are registered under the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Economy (MAFWE). 33 cooperatives are classified as “non-active”. Membership is, in average, less than 15 farmers and the turnover below EUR 100,000. Agricultural cooperatives miss good access to market, capital and efficient technology, and most of the times, are consigned to the role of suppliers of raw materials, having marginal influence in the supply chains, far from final customers and generating minimum benefits for their members.
Size of grants
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
- minimum amount: EUR 1.6 million;
- maximum amount: EUR 1.8 million.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person
- be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public body, local authority, economic actor, international (inter-
governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the Rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation
- be established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country covered by Article 10.1 of Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union's
instruments for financing external action. This obligation does not apply to international organisations, and
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an
intermediary.
Deadline: 02 June 2017
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