Montenegro Institutional Development and Agriculture Strengthening (MIDAS)

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The development objective of the Institutional Development and Agriculture Strengthening Project for Montenegro is to improve the delivery of government assistance for sustainable agriculture and rural development in a manner consistent with the European Union's (EU's) pre-accession requirements. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is to strengthen Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management (MAFWM's) rural development program. There are two sub components to this component. The first sub component will finance, on a cost-sharing basis, rural development sub-projects through the provision of grants to private farmers, processors, other rural enterprises, farmer organizations, and community groups .The second sub component is strengthening extension and advisory services. This sub-component will strengthen the extension and advisory services' ability to: (i) provide potential beneficiaries of rural development grants with support and guidance on meeting cross-compliance requirements and EU standards, developing business plans, and preparing grant applications; and (ii) obtain information required for the further development of the existing Market Information System (MIS) involving collection and dissemination of price information, and development of a farm management and record-keeping program. The second component of the project is strengthening MAFWM's administrative and management capacity in accordance with EU pre-accession requirements. There are three sub components to this component. The first sub component is administering EU compatible agriculture and rural development support program. This sub-component will support the establishment of an European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession for Rural Development (EU IPARD) compatible rural development unit/management authority responsible for planning, programming, and organizing the rural development program within MAFWM, as well as evaluating the results. The second sub component is modernizing agriculture information management systems. This sub-component will support the preparation and implementation of the main agricultural census and the publication of the results. The third sub component, is creating a modern food safety systems, will support a series of investments in food safety infrastructure in Montenegro that will complement EU technical assistance under Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 2008 for the development of food safety services. The third component of the project is project management, administration, and monitoring. This component will build capacity within MAFWM to manage the day-to-day implementation of the project as well as monitor and evaluate its impact.