Over 100 families have been helped by the Family Farming Development Fund
In a context characterized by a widespread poverty and by a lack of investment aimed to improve the local productions, the project “Alliance for the Development and Promotion of Family Farming in Northern Albania” have one of its assets in the creation of a capital through which sutain the development of the family farmings involved within the project. In this way, to the education activities, Exchange of good practises, marketing and promotion, is possible to add a substantial block of direct investments in structure and equipments, having the aim to increase the productive capacities of the beneficiaries. The Asset for the Development of the Family Farming expects four lines of financing: “ovine and caprine fostering”, pastures”, “biological agricolture” and “rural tourism”, whose the sector’s workers could access by means of the specific calls. The managing of the asset is entraste to a committee composed by the delegates of the porject’s partners, of the Albanian civil society and of the local administrations. Any loans dispensed by the asset has to be co-financed by the beneficiaries.
The staff and the experts of the project provide support for every phase of the process, starting from the presentation of the financing demand until the implementation of the financed proposal: the permanent action of support and supervision (more than 200 annual inspections to the beneficiaries) allow a careful and efficacious management of the dispensed loans.
Until now, 28 financings have been supplied under the line “ovine and caprine fostering”, usually allocated to the building or renovation of structures devoted to the breeding farm and to the caseation, milking or milk’s conservation. Six financings have been appointed within the line “Pasture” to group of farmers engaged in the alpine pasture.
Under the line “biological agricolture” have been assigned 25 smaller financings, with a specific focus for the conversion of horticulture, viticolture and olivecolture’ sectors towards the biological. Eventually, a set of ten financings have been located to ventures of “rural tourism”. Since that a big part of requests of financing coming from groups of two or more workers, more than 100 families have obtained a direct economic support from the project.
One of the most important aspect of this asset is that, not only allow the increasement of the working condition and of the incom of the different families involved in the project, but, also, facilitates the introduction of new methods, structures and procedures, which represent examples of good practices that could be adopted and assimilated by the sectors’ workers.