Sustainable Agriculture

With over one third of the population in the 18 Member States of the Central European Initiative living in rural areas, agriculture and rural development remain among most important fields of the CEI activity.

The mission of the Initiative in the agriculture sector is to enhance sustainable agricultural development and food security by supporting dissemination of good agricultural practices, improving information sharing, and promoting use of associated technologies.
 
The vast part of activities focus on supporting the CEI non-EU Member States still undergoing a reform process and needing more assistance in developing their agriculture and agro-food sector.
 
The CEI encourages and supports activities and projects aiming at meeting the standards and criteria set by the acquis communautaire, thus strengthening the competitiveness of the farming and agri-food sector.
 
Current CEI activities in this sector are guided by the Plan of Action 2010-2012, and focus on two priorities:
 
  • Provision of Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Programmes in Agriculture and Agribusiness Fields in the non-EU CEI Member States
  • Food Safety, Food Quality and Authentication of Food Products.
Projects in this field are mainly supported  through the  Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP), Technical Cooperation Projects and the  Cooperation Fund.