LJUBLJANA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Slovenian government will encourage all of its small farms with some 20 million euros (23.67 million U.S. dollars) in development grants to increase their competitiveness and productivity.
Deputy prime minister and Agricultural Minister Dejan Zidan made this announcement after a weekly cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Those eligible, the minister said, will get 5,000 euros paid out in two instalments, with the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development contributing 75 percent of the funds, and the state budget the rest.
There are around 6,500 small farms in Slovenia, with the measure potentially reaching 4,000, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported quoting the Agricultural Ministry's data.
The tender will be open from Nov. 6 until the end of January, with farms with between three and six hectares of fields or between six and 12 hectares of grassland and at least three and not more than 15 heads of cattle eligible to apply, the STA report explained.
Minister Zidan said that the measure, the first of its kind in Slovenia, would help those farms that are "especially important and threatened", that is they are situated in areas with limited possibilities.
Small farms provide biotic diversity but rarely apply to investment calls because of their size.
"Slovenia must provide conditions for different forms of farming. We must keep functional small and medium-sized farms because of geographic and biotic diversity," he continued.
The ministry expects farms to use the grants for investment and purchase of new technologies. To make it easier for farmers, the ministry has made the application rules simple.
