Assessment of farmers role in relation to the support of rural communities

All EU countries prepare new Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 for agriculture and rural areas incl. LEADER. An integral part of the planned document is analysis of rural areas and the LEADER programme. Some key questions were solved during the analysis. Such as: “How to target financial support to rural areas to achieve high effect in the social, economic and environmental terms.†The analysis requires objective documented data of results of many studies and surveys. Experience shows that often it is not easy to obtain the required data concerning awareness among applicants, the potential of social capital or the needs to improve infrastructures or level of enterprise in rural areas. Very important source was the RDP 2011 Mid-term review in the Czech Republic. The main results of the analysis showed that it is vitally necessary to increase employment in rural areas by strengthening rural economy and social capital. It is very important to exchange experience among European countries during the preparation, implementation delivery and evaluation of the RDP.