The cost-effectiveness of EU rural development support for non-productive investments in agriculture : Special report No 20, 2015

Non-productive investments (NPIs) are investments which do not generate significant return, income, or revenue, or increase significantly the value of the beneficiary's holding, but have a positive environmental impact. Public support for NPIs is provided by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and national co-financing. This public support often reaches 100 % of the total investment costs. The Court concludes that NPI support has contributed to the achievement of objectives linked to the sustainable use of agricultural land, but in a way that was not cost effective. This was because the costs of 75 % of the visited projects were unreasonably high. Furthermore, even though many of these projects had obvious remunerative characteristics, they were fully funded with public money. The Court makes five recommendations aimed at improving the cost-effectiveness of NPIs that will be funded during the 2014-2020 programming period.