Evaluation of the National Apiculture Programme in Austria, 2004-2007: General lessons learned regarding support programmes

To improve production and marketing of honey, the European Commission has laid down general rules for the application of specific measures within national programmes of the Member States (Council Regulation No. 1221/1997, updated by Regulation No. 797/2004). These national programmes are part of the first pillar of the CAP and are co-financed by the EU with a share of 50%. In 2009, an evaluation of the Austrian apiary subsidy programme for the period 2004-2007 was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management for the purpose of identifying the relevance of these measures for the apicultural sector. The present paper is based on the study "Evaluation of the Apiculture Subsidy Programme 2004/05 to 2006/07" and comprises selected results of those programme measures which appear to be most interesting in an international context. Towards this end, application and payment data were analysed using descriptive statistics to reflect the direct effects of the programme on the Austrian apiary sector. The evaluation results permit the deduction of several recommendations having general validity for the implementation of support programmes in rural areas.