Chapter Nine

Europe’s Experience

Investing in Rural Revitalization

Alan Matthews

The EU’s rural development strategy emphasizes the role of rural communities in determining their own development trajectories based on optimal use of local resources.

KEY FINDINGS

Rural development is a European Union priority, designated as one of two pillars under the Common Agricultural Policy and supported by almost €100 billion in funding for 2014–2020.
EU rural development policy aims to foster (1) competitiveness in agriculture; (2) sustainable management of natural resources and climate action; and (3) balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities.
Spending on rural and farm diversification is expected to create almost 74,000 rural jobs; support for value added and rural services and infrastructure will also improve rural livelihoods.

With only 11 percent of farm holdings managed by farmers younger than 40, generational renewal efforts support young farmers through start-up grants to enhance their viability.
Agri-environment-climate measures support improvements in environmental quality, including compensation for farmers who adopt sustainable practices beyond a mandatory baseline.
“Bottom-up” initiatives emphasize the role of rural communities in determining their own development trajectories.
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is intended to inform policy design, but has fallen short in providing necessary evidence because of data and methodological issues.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Lessons learned from the EU experience support recommendations for rural revitalization efforts in other regions:

Engage rural areas in protecting and enhancing the natural environment through programs that integrate agriculture with environment and climate objectives.
Promote endogenous rural development through bottom-up approaches that channel the enthusiasm, skills, and local knowledge of rural communities to develop projects that address the challenges they face.

Support connectivity of rural areas, particularly through access to the Internet, which is essential to the development of precision agriculture, e-services, and greater rural business innovation.
Design and implement M&E programs to provide timely evidence on the impact of spending to inform project design and improve targeting and funding allocation.

Download Chapter

