Rural Development Programme Research Articles

Evaluating spillovers and cost-effectiveness of complementary agricultural and social protection interventions: evidence from Lesotho

ABSTRACT We present findings from a study of the local-economy impacts of Lesotho’s Child Grants Programme and of a multi-faceted rural development intervention. We designed a micro-data parameterised general equilibrium model and used it to simulate the direct and indirect impacts of the two interventions, considering income and production spillovers. The Child Grants Programme, alone and in combination with the rural development programme, generates total discounted benefits that exceed discounted programme costs. Local-economy spillovers amplify the benefit-cost ratio of both cash transfers and productive interventions. By better integrating with outside markets, it is possible to attain substantial cost-effective income gains for local economies.

THE BEHAVIOR OF SOME HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY CULTIVARS (VACCINIUM CORYMBOSUM L.) ON THE SANDY SOILS FROM SOUTH-WEST OF ROMANIA

The highbush blueberry was introduced to Romania by Prof. Nicolae Stefan in 1968. The first plantations were concentrated in the area of the hilly hills, so in the 80s years the cultivated area in Romania amounted to approximately 300 ha, but in the 90s years it decreased to only 60 ha. With the beginning of the new National Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, and allocation of European funds for the fruit growing, the blueberry crop became even better. In the present in Romania are about 1000 ha with blueberry orchard distributed in the mountain and hilly areas. Starting from 2019, at Dăbuleni Research & Development Station for Plant Cultivation on Sandy Soils, on a soil with a pH of 6.36, studies began on the behaviour of high bush blueberry in the plain area. An experimental plot with the Duke, Nelson and Patriot cultivars was established; the plants were planted on raised beds covered with polypropylene mulch fabric (Agrotextile). Drip irrigation was provided under the mulch. Following the studies carried out in the 2020-2022 period, the Patriot cultivar stood out with an average fruit weight of 2.65 g/fruit and a production in the 4th year after planting by the 3.2 t/ha. The Duke variety recorded the highest value of fruit vitamin C content (13.11 mg) versus to the other studied cultivars.

ПРОГРАМНО-ЦІЛЬОВИЙ МЕТОД УПРАВЛІННЯ РОЗВИТКОМ ТУРИЗМУ

Program and target planning of tourism in rural areas can be defined as management on a systematic basis, focused on achieving a specific end result in solving the problem of development of business entities, as well as the entire tourism sector, territory in a pre-established time frame with the use of measures, methods, techniques and tools of political, regulatory, financial, economic, social, environmental, production, research, information and other nature, formed in a certain sequence and agreed on resources and performers. The use of the program-target method in the management of tourism activities in rural areas and ensuring the development of problem areas is due to the following circumstances: 1) the need to reduce structural imbalances in the economy and unfavorable trends in the development of the socio-economic sphere; 2) a set of socio-economic, natural, environmental and scientific and technical problems that require interregional and intersectoral coordination of program activities; 3) the inability to achieve the necessary Development Goals on the basis of established relationships between management levels, business entities, etc.; 4) the need for coordinated use of material and financial resources of various territorial, sectoral departmental and other affiliations. The use of the program-target method for the sustainable socio-economic development of rural green tourism is an important organizational and economic mechanism for managing territories, which is aimed at solving priority system-forming and capital-intensive problems of both the industry and the region, requiring significant amounts of material, information and other resources, labor costs carried out with the participation of many enterprises and organizations. The programs are convenient for recording and monitoring the progress of work and the use of resources and allow you to organize a clear interaction between participants in their development and implementation. At the same time, program-target management is one of the most complex management methods. This is due to the fact that managed objects, as a rule, belong to different branches of the national economy, are not subordinate to each other, have different own goals of functioning and development, differ in the level of economic development, technical equipment and provision of material and financial resources. Accordingly, the success of the rural tourism development program depends on intermediate results. Therefore, the use of programs in the management of economic and social processes requires organizational work during their entire life cycle and strengthening control over both the industry, the business entity, and the processes accompanying their development. Thus, the use of the program-target method in managing the economy of tourism activities is the management of social development of the region, which becomes a decisive organizational factor.

Cultivating Black Leaders for Rural Communities: A Case Study of a Leadership Development Program at an 1890 Land-Grant Institution

Rural leadership development has been a field with a long, varied history. Despite this, Black rural leadership development programs have been almost non-existent. In response, this investigation explored the effectiveness of a cooperative extension program called Learning Everyday About Development (LEAD), designed and facilitated by an 1890 land-grant university to revitalize rural communities while supporting economic development in traditionally historically Black communities in Louisiana. Three themes emerged from our qualitative analysis: (1) sparking rural leadership, (2) challenges to new leadership approaches, and (3) rethinking rural renewal. As such, we found the participants reported that LEAD was effective overall. This effectiveness was demonstrated in the first theme, sparking rural leadership. For example, the participants discussed in detail the benefits of networking at LEAD, an immense appreciation of not being forgotten, and being made aware of resources. Although participants reported they experienced growth in their leadership style and career because of participation, the extent of the growth varied substantially. The participants also reported that they devoted more time in their offices to work on grants and programming. Moving forward, we recommend a robust longitudinal evaluation of LEAD. Perhaps data from this study could provide a basis to create a framework for other Black rural development initiatives and add meaningful insight into this phenomenon.

Food Security as the Basis of Economic Development of Countries

The well-being of the population of all countries depends on various factors, the main one of which is ensuring food security in connection with which the article’s topic is relevant. The main study’s main purpose is to study the food security problems individual countries and regions and identify ways to solve them. When determining the level of food security, it is proposed to use a methodology that includes the study of the demand for food, which would take into account all regional and national characteristics. During the study, methods and techniques were used, the main of which were comparison and statistical analysis, in which a comparison and analysis of the production of products on average per person, the average per capita consumption of food per capita over the past five years, etc. were carried out. The article provides a literary review of academic economists’ publications and works dealing with food security problems. Based on the conducted research, mechanisms for ensuring food security in Kazakhstan are proposed: improving the rural development program, the use of rural mortgages, the development of farms, etc. The research topic is relevant and important, and it is only possible to consider some aspects in one work. In this regard, the authors propose to further study the problems of food security in terms of learning international experience in solving problems, the development of own production, the development of the agricultural sector of the economy and others.

Supporting the “sustainability” of inland (rural) areas in Basilicata. Tools and place-based strategies for implementing local development processes in the Lagonegrese-Pollino subregion

According to the Regional Rural Development Program 2014-2020, most of the territory of Basilicata is classified as “Rural Areas with Development Problems (D)”. As such, it suffers from severe processes of marginalization due to depopulation, population aging and the cessation of activities related to micro companies. These phenomena weaken local socio-economic systems and constitute a risk factor for maintaining the environmental balance. In addition, the economic instability resulting from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact, especially on the agricultural enterprises that offer diversified activities and services to meet tourism demand (with non-hotel accommodation and catering services), mainly associated with non-traditional tourism. The point of view from which this situation can be observed and analyzed is the Lagonegrese-Pollino subregion. Despite numerous factors due to the obvious marginality and weakness of the territory, there are factors in this area that allow for change in terms of sustainable planning of the territory, in which not only the institutional actors but also the local population play a central role.These are the conditions to investigate the central policies and ad hoc programming tools, especially regarding sustainable and quality tourism development. Starting from the National Strategy for Inner Areas to the Local Development Strategy, through the analysis of a project for the conversion and reuse of a railway infrastructure transformed into a greenway (the disused Lagonegro-Spezzano Albanese), the work aims to evaluate which instruments can activate sustainable fruition paths in the analyzed subregion and, in particular, whether participation and social activation represent an added value for the creation of territorial renewal processes.

Bolstering the rural physician workforce in underserved communities: Are Rural Residency Planning and Development Programs finding the sweet spot?

The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) Programs, compare the characteristics of counties with and without RRPD programs, and identify rural places where future RRPD programs could be developed. The study sample comprised 67 rural sites training residents in 40 counties in 24 US states. Descriptive statistics were used to describe RRPD programs and logistic regression to predict the probability of a county being an RRPD site as a function of population, primary care physicians (PCP) per 10,000 population, and the social vulnerability index (SVI) compared to a control sample of nonmetro counties without RRPD sites. Most RRPD grantees (78%) were family medicine programs affiliated with medical schools (97%). RRPD counties were more populous (P<.01), had a higher population density (P<.05), and a higher percent of the non-White or Hispanic population (P = .05) compared to non-RRPD counties. Both higher population (P<.001) and PCP ratio (P = .046) were strong predictors, while SVI (P = .07) was a weak predictor of being an RRPD county. RRPD sites appear to represent a "sweet spot" of rural counties that have the population and physician supply to support a training program but also are relatively more socially vulnerable with high-need populations. Additional counties fitting this "sweet spot" could be targeted for funding to address health disparities and health workforce maldistribution.

Forest Bioeconomy from the Perspectives of Different EU Countries and Its Potential for Measuring Sustainability

The globally accepted concept of a bioeconomy includes the field of forestry; however, the concept of a forest bioeconomy (FBE) does not appear to be defined uniformly. The concepts of bioeconomy and sustainable development are interlinked. In many countries, the bioeconomy is often the subject of efforts to quantify it from the state level, and therefore, the question arises as to whether the data regarding the financial support of an FBE in individual countries can be considered mutually comparable, with the aim of including them, for example, among the criteria for measuring sustainability (e.g., indicators of sustainable development—SDI). This option has political implications for political representation, taking the form of a comparable indicator in the approaches of individual states. This article analytically compares FBEs and our understanding of them in selected countries: Czechia, Slovakia, Finland, Italy, and Germany. Czechia financially supports various areas of forestry through European funds (Rural Development Programme, RDP CZ). In this article, we assess this support from the point of view of the perceptions of the FBE in the studied states, with an emphasis on the view of Czechia. First, an FBE analysis of the selected official and supporting documents of the studied countries was performed. The total financial data from the supported projects from the RDP CZ were subsequently assigned to these areas. Thus, the idea of financial support for the FBE through the RDP CZ from the perspectives of the selected countries was born. The differences in the perception of the FBE according to the description derived from the analysis were also confirmed by the different financial quantifications (hypothetical) of these different views. The obtained results demonstrate an incomparable state of perception of the FBE among the selected countries. For these reasons, it is currently inappropriate to use the level of FBE financial support to measure sustainability.

Analysis of Issues on Micro Credit—The Case of Two Villages in Punjab

The phenomenon of poverty was felt and observed more during the decade of 1990s, as the overall growth slowed down. While the slowed economic growth and recessionary trends contributed to poverty, the trickle “down effect” once thought, to improve living conditions, did not reach the lowest level owing largely to lack of accessibility of institutions, unjust and non-poor policies. For these reasons, in Pakistan during the decades of 60s and 80s, when the country experienced high growth rates of 6-7 percent, 34 percent of people still lived below the poverty line. Socio-economic development, improving the quality of life in general and of rural poor in particular, welfare have been the prime stated goals of government. Therefore, rural development programmes, such as, Village-Aid, Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Peoples Works Programme, Tameer-e-watan Programme, Prime Minister’s Five Points Programme etc. were introduced to improve farm productivity, which would consequently improve incomes and quality of life of rural poor. This was done through the Department of Local Government and Rural Development. Little impact on the life of the rural poor, however, was observed partly because these were administered through closed, immutable and cloistered institutions of government which are not accessible and responsive to the needs of poor. Also, the lack of focus on community participation and need for it was evident. As these programmes were managed through government departments these lacked flexibility and out-reach. The approach of administering was fixed, rigid and lacked professionalism.

(The shift to) online delivery of a rural faculty development program in research skills: lessons learned

BackgroundWhile rural physicians are the ideal candidates to investigate health and healthcare issues in rural communities, they often lack the required skills, competencies, and resources. As a result, research skills development programs are crucial to help ensure communities receive the quality of care they deserve. Memorial University of Newfoundland created a research skills development program called 6for6 to empower and enable rural physicians to research solutions to community-specific health needs. 6for6 program delivery was exclusively in-person until 2019. However, with limitations introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations around the globe needed to respond quickly. As we work to return to a post-pandemic environment, program administrators and educators worldwide are unsure whether to retain or remove the changes made to programs to adapt to the pandemic restrictions. Therefore, this work addresses the impact of the online delivery model in two areas: 1) attainment of competencies (specifically research skills, knowledge, and attitudes); and 2) participant experiences, defined as the ease of attendance, the capacity to interact with team members and peers, and challenges or barriers associated with navigating program resources.MethodsWe compared the effect of an online delivery model pivoted to adapt pandemic restrictions with the original model (primarily face-to-face) on the acquisition of learning competencies and participant experience using a mixed-methods study. Various data collection methods, such as a pre-post program survey, post-program focus group, and structured observation, were utilized.ResultsFrom 2014 to 2021, 35 physicians attended the program (30 face-to-face and five online). The Wilcoxon-sign-rank test did not show any significant differences in the participants’ median change of research competency scores who attended face-to-face and online learning, respectively: knowledge (32.6, 26.8), attitudes (3.8, 3.5), and skills (32.4, 20.0). Flexibility and accessibility were key aspects of participants’ experiences during the online model. Comparison with previous years demonstrated no significant challenges with the virtual delivery model, yet participants struggled with mentorship challenges and learning-life balance.ConclusionsAlthough presenting some unique challenges, the online model did not negatively affect learner competencies. Likewise, it provided opportunities for rural physicians to attend learning sessions and interact with experts and peers while remaining in their communities.

C. H. Hanumantha Rao and Hans Linnemann (eds). Economic Reforms and Poverty Alleviation in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996. 271 pages. Hardbound, Indian Rs 350.00; paperback, Indian Rs 195.00.

The book under review is an edited collection of eight papers presented at a seminar on “Structural Adjustment and Poverty in India: Policy and Research Issues”, and is Volume 17 in the Indo-Dutch studies on Development Alternatives. The book evaluates the impact of economic reforms on poverty alleviation in India. In the “Introduction”, the editors describe the main theme of the book and propose some policy measures for poverty alleviation in the light of the findings of the papers included in the book. The paper, “Structural Adjustment in India—What about Poverty Alleviation?”, by Pieter A. van Stuijvenberg, evaluates the impact of India’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) on the poor and suggests some policy corrections to mitigate the adverse effects of this adjustment on the poor. He observes an improvement in the balance-of-payments position and foreign exchange reserves without a simultaneous fall in gross domestic product under the SAP. His major concerns are the large size and composition of fiscal deficits (dominated by revenue deficits). The large size of fiscal deficits, according to van Stuijvenberg, drive up real interest rates and endanger investment-led growth. He observes that social indicators of the social safety net, employment, and rural development programmes have not improved much due to expenditure cuts on rural infrastructural investments. He suggests a reduction in the size and composition of the public sector, elimination of all explicit and implicit subsidies, and discouraging rent-seeking behaviour for a successful implementation of economic reforms.

A Study on Performance Evolution of Indian Eco-friendly Cosmetic Brand: Mamaearth

Purpose: Mamaearth as a non-toxic personal care brand has kept its promises about goodness inside. It is a well-known brand with the mission of making the lives of mothers and pregnant moms look better and more attractive. The company’s products are safe, toxin-free, and of standard quality for every parent and baby from head to toe. Mamaearth is a digital-first FMCG company with products available on D2C Platforms. In addition to creating safe green space through a high-quality plantation, the company creates jobs, develops infrastructure, conducts educational programs, and provides rural development programs to improve the standard of living in communities. Design/Methodology/Approach: This qualitative research study is primarily based on secondary data. Research data is collected from the research papers published in reputable journals using search engines such as Google Scholar and Research gate, as well as newspapers, books, and articles. Findings/Result: The study key findings are: Mamaearth needs to extend its business operation in the retail business, increase franchisees, and collaborate with local players to match international standards. The company is not sufficient at offering customer-oriented services, survey need to be conducted to know the consumer’s needs and wants. The company focuses more on a low-income group and developing a new product to diversify its product range and target demographic segment. Originality/Value: This paper highlights the company's overall performance analysis and takes up many green initiatives for the environment. Using digital channels, Mamaearth Company distributes green products to a customer. Paper Type: Research case study

An Empirical Analysis of Custom Hire Centres in Karnataka

Krishi Yantra Dhare, a scheme, was launched for access to farm mechanization, especially for small and marginal farmers, through custom hire centres (CHCs) in Karnataka in 2014. Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Programme, a charitable trust, has established the highest number (164 CHC) across 25 districts in Karnataka. One hundred ninety-five respondents across 14 districts were selected for the study to understand the functioning of CHC's and utilization of farm equipment .by farmers The findings indicated that medium, small and large holders utilized renting services at 839.95, 779.05 and 241.65 hours, respectively. Rotavator at 262 hours was the most demanded equipment with rental income of ?1,40,239. As the objective of CHCs establishment was to offer access to farm machinery to small and marginal holders, implementation of the scheme has been in the right direction.

Index-based impact monitoring of water infrastructures in climate change mitigation projects: A case study of MGNREGA-IWMP projects in Maharashtra

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is currently the largest funded rural development program in India to ensure rural livelihood by providing employment through different activities. Owing to climate change impacts and water scarcity for the last 5 years, approximately more than 70% of activities (budget of 5 billion USD per year) are focused on water issues. For better utilization of resources, MGNREGA has been implementing these works in convergence with many other schemes like the integrated watershed management programme (IWMP), with the aim of restoring rural natural resources, like soil, vegetation, and water. Although the largest Rural Development Scheme in India, the monitoring and evaluation (M&amp;amp;E) does not focus on the actual impact on water resources but only focuses on the amount spent. This can lead to only information on funds spent but does not have much an impact on water resources and earmarking data for monitoring. The recent advancements in remote sensing techniques have provided open access to high-resolution satellite data along with the processing platform. Considering the available technologies and gaps in the existing M&amp;amp;E framework, the current study developed a low-cost, comprehensive, robust, and near real-time M&amp;amp;E framework to assess the impact of water projects. A novel remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) has been developed to assess the overall ecological status of land surfaces due to the water infrastructures developed. The performance of RSEI has also been assessed using the secondary data of crop production, which shows excellent results (adjusted R2 value of 82% and Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.92). In addition, RSEI results were compared against the results of government audits (e.g., by the Comptroller Auditor General of India), wherein RSEI found similar areas of increased water status and crop productivity. The results indicate that the use of the RSEI-based M&amp;amp;E framework will allow for an impact assessment of water infrastructure and also aid to identify the priority areas demanding immediate intervention. Thus, RSEI can be used as a decision support system for stakeholders, including for smooth planning, designing, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of water infrastructure for combating climate change extremes such as droughts.

Exploring the role of microfinance in women’s empowerment and entrepreneurial development: a qualitative study

In developing countries, women’s empowerment is a major concern. Several efforts were made to tackle this issue as the aims of poverty reduction and development cannot be achieved without giving attention to women’s empowerment. Over the past decades, microfinance institutions (MFIs) have appeared as crucial tools not only to address the issue of poverty but also particularly to empower women. Resultantly, a huge number of studies focus on the relationships between MFI and women empowerment. However, in the context of rural areas of Pakistan, the research is limited. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the role of MFI in women’s empowerment in Pakistan so that the research will facilitate MFIs and policymakers in strengthening the link between MFIs and women entrepreneurship. We have used a qualitative methodology, using primary data collected through in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion with six female borrowers of Rural Community Development Programs (RCDP). The empirical results provide valuable insights into the efforts made by RCDP to empower women and combat poverty by encouraging women’s entrepreneurship. Hence, this paper not only examines empowerment, which women are attaining from microfinance but also assists MFIs to know about their significance in developing the economy. The paper is significant for MFI practitioners to develop policies for boosting women’s entrepreneurship and to help their existing women clients with efficient training and supervision.

THE EFFECTS OF STATE-LOCAL-GOVERNMENTS JOINT ACCOUNT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ IMPACT ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

This paper examines how the operation of State-Local Government Joint Account affects the impact of local government, in executing rural development programmes at the grassroots. The intention of the constitution is to forge cooperation between the state and local governments in managing efficiently local government allocations from Federation Account for the benefit of local people, but reports and agitation of the people on nature of operation of the account proves otherwise. For the purpose of contributing towards the reform of the operation of the account, the paper examines the nature of the operation of the account in some selected states, evaluates the effects of the operation on the local government impacts on rural development, and identifies ways of improving the operation of the account to achieve its objectives. In the process, descriptive analysis method was adopted in examining the available secondary data. However, the findings indicate that the state governments manipulate the account to the disadvantage of local governments. Also, most local governments are unable to contribute significantly to rural development activities because of paucity of funds. Therefore, the paper recommends way out to improve the operation of the account, instead of abolishing it, through effective budgeting; compliance, monitoring, and enforcement by Community Development Associations (CDAs); and prevention of mismanagement and diversion of funds by Anti-corruption agencies.

The infrastructure contribution to the regional development and the environmental protection: Typologies of regional units based on forest operations engineering

The purpose of this article is to investigate the contribution of mountainous infrastructure and in particular forest operations engineering in its development, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and policy making, in order to achieve more rational use of natural and financial resources.The research focuses on forest operations engineering funded by the Rural Development Program of Greece and were executed or will be executed by the Forest Services and Municipalities of the country during the Programming Periods 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 respectively. Data related to reforestation, fire protection, mountain waterworks and forest road projects constructed in the forest area are being analysed, followed by a description of their role in protecting the adjacent areas from fires, floods and in general effects of climate change, or contribute to regional and local development through assisting accessibility, upgrading the landscape aesthetically, creating jobs, etc. Finally, comparisons are made between the regional units and the clusters - clusters of regional units between the two program periods.The identification of clusters of regional units will contribute to the creation of a clearer understanding of the problems of the mountainous area and to the evaluation of the possibilities for a more rational development, creating the conditions for the choice of alternatives, depending on the general economic or social objectives.The data are taken from the Rural Development Program and relate to the funding that has been given or projected to be given for the execution of forest technical projects over two programming periods (2007-2013 and 2014-2020) at the level of regional unit. The data are processed by methods of descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis and in particular the cluster analysis of the executed and to be executed forest technical projects (especially projects related to reforestation, fire protection, mountain waterworks and forest road projects). This typology is particularly relevant, in the context of the effort for more rational mobilization and planned utilization of financial resources, based on the comparative advantages of each cluster-cluster of regional units.

Assessing the Potential of Social Innovation and Local Agenda-Setting within Rural Development Programmes: Insights from Austrian Leader Regions

Abstract Since the beginning of the 1990s, the LEADER programme has been implemented to promote positive development in rural areas in the EU through bottom-up approaches and community engagement. Lately, concerns have been raised about the capability of LEADER to foster social innovation and provide adequate room to manoeuvre for communities to set agendas locally. This paper attempts to engage in this discussion by analysing the implementation of rural development programmes, local ideas and experiences with LEADER and social innovation in four LEADER regions in Upper Austria (AT). Furthermore, the analysis outlines the projects implemented through LEADER to evaluate the possibilities for local agenda-setting. The research shows both the success of LEADER as a tool to instigate bottom-up and neoendogenous development and the need for additional institutional frameworks for community consultations if inclusive and forward-looking visions of rural development are to be fostered.

Innovations in smallholder agricultural financing and economic efficiency of maize production in Ghana’s northern region

This study used PSM and the selectivity-corrected framework for stochastic frontiers to examine how innovative agricultural finance practices of maize farmers in northern Ghana affect economic efficiency. We find, consistently, that users of innovative financing have higher technical (TE), allocative (AE), and economic efficiency (EE) scores than nonusers. The efficiency gaps between users and nonusers are 4% for TE; 5% for AE; and 10% for EE. Contrary to expectation, farmers’ access to mechanized services diminished their TE. Our findings indicate that short-term policies to increasing maize output should focus on reducing inefficiency levels than introducing new technologies. This can be achieved by providing technical training to farmers through improved access to agricultural extension services, provisioning farmers with timely access to tractors and equipment, and facilitating access to profitable output markets. The positive efficiency effects of using innovative financing suggests that policies should favour creating further sources of informal financial options for poor rural farmers. Here, Village Savings and Loans Associations can mitigate credit supply risks by linking farmers directly to inputs and reducing the need for cash loans. Local governments must harness Ghana Government’s Planting for Export and Rural Development programme to create sustainable employment opportunities that enable farmers to raise farm investment capital in the off-season.

Potential and Complexity of Implementing Financial Instruments in the Framework of Rural Development Policies in Italy—The Friuli Venezia Giulia Revolving Fund

Although in recent years some credit institutions have shown a willingness to support agricultural entrepreneurs, there is still a lack of private financing or co-financing in the agricultural sector. Many farms, in fact, are not able to meet the indicators or to provide the fees required by banks to obtain investment loans. The financial instruments introduced by the European Commission within the Rural Development Programme aim at supporting access to credit for farms to make them more economically viable, competitive, and suited to market requirements. The objective of this paper is to analyze the role played by the financial instruments introduced by the European Union to support and encourage the improvement of farms and, in general, the agriculture, forestry, human capital, and rural development in Italy. The paper explores the topic in detail by presenting a case study of a region that has successfully applied these instruments using a revolving fund with a special background. The quantitative data used in this study are administrative; some information was obtained through a survey. Regional information on the implementation of this fund is examined in terms of both opportunities and limitations to highlight the best practice. The findings suggest that certain conditions are required to develop and implement effective financial instruments: a real and effective collaboration between regional administration, banking institutions, and farms that are willing to grasp the newness; a reasonable period of time (some years); know-how because knowledge and experience are crucial, together with the ability to face complexity both in terms of normative issues and financial engineering instruments themselves. Several implications derive from these findings.