Variations in the emphasis of rural development programmes in the EU: the cases of Lithuania and Scotland

2010-03-16
Variations in the emphasis of rural development programmes in the EU: the cases of Lithuania and Scotland

The idea for this article arose collaborating with researchers from EU countries within the 6th Framework project AGRIGRID. During the project it was noticed, that different EU countries have chosen different priorities, measures and budget allocation when preparing the National Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) for 2007-2013. The main aim of this paper is to review the implementation of rural development programmes in Lithuania and Scotland in the context of derived rural development priorities and existing key challenges of agriculture and rural areas. Following a comparison of the socio-economic indicators, strengths and weaknesses of the RDPs in both countries are explored. The results suggest that the differences in programme priorities are driven by socio-economic and bio-physical characteristics in Lithuania and Scotland. The analysis concludes with proposals for future amendments to the RDPs considering the specific circumstances and characteristics in the two case study countries.

Key words: agriculture, competitiveness, Rural Development Programme, structural change.

Irena Krisciukaitiene, Aiste Galnaityte, Gerald Schwarz. Variations in the emphasis of rural development programmes in the eu: the cases of lithuania and scotland // Vadybos mokslas ir studijos - kaimo verslų ir jų infrastruktūros plėtrai = Management theory and studies for rural business and infrastructure development / Lietuvos žemės ūkio universitetas. Ekonomikos ir vadybos fakultetas. Akademija, 2010, nr. 20(1), p. 77-86, ISSN 1822-6760 (EBSCO, Business Source Complete, Central & Eastern European Academic Source).