One million euros annual for rural development in the pitiusas

Formentera signs the project Leader whose objective is the impulse of the rural and agricultural sector.
The conseller of Agriculture and Livestock of the Consell of Formentera, Bartolo Ferrer, has signed a collaboration agreement with the Local Action Group for Rural Development in Ibiza and Formentera on the application of the methodology Leader on the island of Formentera, with Project Leader chairman and consellera for Wealth and Agricultural Policy of the Consell of Ibiza, Margalida Torres Planells.
Formentera as a member of Project Leader, aims to improve the quality of life of the rural population, alleviating the abandonment of the field and through the diversification of primary sector activities and development of small food companies, increasing revenues of the rural sector in Formentera. The monetary amount the Pitiusas is a million euros a year to give impetus to rural development and agriculture.
For this reason, the object of the agreement is to provide financial assistance to the rural sector through the support for the preservation of farms, rural property, for services to the population, training for the maintenance of dry stone walls and the creation and consolidation of agrarian industries in the case of Formentera.
In the case of Formentera, the project Leader, continuation of the Leader Plus project, was already in force on the island with the opening of the Telecenter, the purchase of the shredder of the Department of Environment or the current project of the launching ramps. The annual contribution of the insular institution is 9 thousand euros to be part of this European project, which counts among its members, municipalities, associations or business entities.
Since yesterday and over the next three years, the Consell of Formentera may receive requests from farmers or rural micro enterprises for a thorough study and subsidize those that strengthen and revalue everything related to the world of agriculture and the environment .
Financial funds to improve the quality of life in rural areas and diversify the rural economy will be channeled through a local action group of Ibiza and Formentera, an association formed by representatives of the social, business and local entities territory.
Also, from the area of Agriculture, Livestock, Hunting and Fishing of Formentera a meeting with the agricultural sector of the island was held in order to present a future plan that sets the rural development program 2007-2013 for the Balearic Islands.
This agreement will be valid until December 31, 2010 and may be renewed annually expressly until the end of the Regional Programme Leader Plus Pitiusas 2007-2013. This grant is provided by the Ministry of Environment, the European Union and the autonomous community.