The Swiss-funded Integrated Water Resources Management in Kosovo (IWRM-K) Program (hereinafter the Program or IWRM-K) aims to build long-lasting water resources management capacities at national and river basin levels in line with Kosovo’s socio-economic and political priorities, as well as the needs of future sustainable development. It aims to help replace the current fragmented approach with a more comprehensive and highly participatory approach of managing water resources at the river basin scale, aligned with the principles of IWRM and the EU Water Framework Directive (EU WFD).

Important part of the Program are activities aiming at prototyping approaches and practices for reducing the pressures from diffuse pollution from agriculture in selected areas of Kosovo.

As part of the Competitive Grants Scheme (CGS) the Program now invites interested individual farmers to submit applications for participation in a training programme and a subsequent grants programme.

The trainings will be conducted at IADK premises in Vushtrri or in the selected municipalities within the three river basins. Transportation to the training site, regardless of the municipality they come from, is the responsibility of the selected farmers themselves.

With this First Call, the Program intends to select up to 60 producers of raspberries and apples. The selection of candidates will be done according to pre-defined criteria. The selected farmers will become project partners in the implementation of modern farming practices designed to reduce the adverse impacts on the environment and improve quality of production.

The implementation of the training will be followed by a test to evaluate the acquired knowledge required for the needs of the implementation of the recommended farming practices. Based test results, and other criteria a total of 30 agricultural rasperry and apple growers from all targeted municipalities will become grant beneficiaries of the Program. A prerequisite for receiving a grant is a test score of at least 30%.

The value of each grant will be up to 5,000 EUR and will be divided into two parts, namely:

• Mandatory equipment that will be used for the promotion of farming practices presented during the training sessions, as well as soil analyses & subsequent plant nutrition and irrigation programmes.
• Equipment and material negotiated directly with each grant recepient depending on her/his specific needs for implementation of the recommended practices.

Each of the selected grant receivers will be monitored in the following two agricultural seasons and will be obliged to implement the suggested production techniques in the area of irrigation, protection and plant nutrition/fertilization. During these periods external expertise will be available to farmers for hands-on training and specific on-demand support.

The proposal for the type of equipment and materials that will be financed by the Program will be made by an expert team. The procurement of the necessary equipment and material will be performed by the Program (no cash transfers to the selected farmers are foreseen).

The trainings will be organized in the period November – December 2021, while the testing will be organized during January 2022. The materials needed to prepare for the test will be available to all participants on the training.

Criteria for selection of candidates:

1. Fully completed application together with all attachments provided in the application;
2. The candidate must be above 18 years, but and not older than 65 years;
3. The location of the plantations / agricultural plots has to be in one of the targeted river basins: Ibër, Morava e Binçës and Lepenc. – a list of municipalities of which farmers are eligible for application is attached.
4. The candidate must be an individual farmer with own Farm Registration Number, or Business Registration – any form of legal registration as a farmer;
5. The household income from agricultural activity to be at least 30% of the total household income in the previous year;
6. The candidates that involve in agriculture activities other family members (an exception to this rule is when the household has a student/s and/or a pensioner), as well as seasonal and full-time employees. Households, where more than half of the adult members provide income from another source (e.g., employment) cannot apply to this Call.
7. The candidate needs to be the owner of the plot, own property documentation that belongs to a close family or have concluded a lease agreement for a period of at least 5 years starting from the period of entering to the agreement with the Program;
8. Apple orchards (plantations) should have a minimum formed area of 0.5 ha (formed by one or more parcels if they border each other and are owned or leased by the same person).
9. Raspberry orchards (plantations) should have a minimum area of 0.25 ha (formed by one or more parcels if they border each other and are owned or leased by the same person);
10. The density of apple orchards to be above 1,500 seedlings per hectare;
11. The age of the plantation to be in the range of 2-15 years;
12. There should be access to an irrigation water source (river, wells, surface water flow etc.) on the plot/plantation;
13. The distance of the selected plot from a surface water body (reservoir, river or other surface water body) to be at most 5 km;
14. Willingness to co-finance (only in case of selection for grant award). Eligible co-financing includes equipment and/or investment in materials (e.g. fertilizers, means of protection) for the application of agro-environmental measures in accordance with the recommendations of the expert team;
15. Willingness of the candidate to respect the recommendations for the application of the agro-ecological measures on the selected plot, provided by the team of experts, as well as to keep records of the processes on pre-prepared forms and to regularly share them with the Program and its experts.

In the case of a large number of submitted applications, in addition to the above, additional criteria related to the environmental impact assessment will be applied for the ranking of the candidates (e.g. erosion of the terrain, location concerning the existing protected area, etc.).

To strengthen the role of women in the management of resources in agriculture, in the ranking of applications, it is planned to award additional points to female applicants, as well as agricultural households with a higher percentage of women. In case of the same points in the ranking, preference will be given to households with female applicants, a larger number of women and a larger share of agricultural income.

The application form for participation in the program, in electronic form, can be obtained here. Printed copies can be obtained from the offices of IADK, Sfaraçak i Ulët no.11, 42000 Vushtrri, Republic of Kosovo, or in the officces of Skat Consulting Kosovo[i], 136 Rruga Pashko Vasa, kati 1, nr 5, Pristina, Republic of Kosovo. If in the printed format, the completed application should be submitted in two copies (in one of the official language): one (1) original copy and one (1) copy in a sealed envelope, no later than October 20th, 2021 to the address:

136 Rruga Pashko Vasa, kati 1, nr 5, Pristina, Republic of Kosovo
e-mail: kosovo@skat.ch 

Entitled "Application for training and grant for agri-environmental measures"

Submission of applications can be delivered electronically by email (kosovo@skat.ch), by post/mail or directly (by hand) at the premises of Skat Consulting Kosovo. For more detailed information about the terms and criteria of the announcement, please contact the following contact:

Contact person: Edita Mahmuti, tel. contact +38344777036 (edita.mahmuti@iadk.org).

Note:

Attached to this announcement you will find:

1. Application form
2. List of municipalities per river basin, farmers of which are eligible for application
3. Map of river basins and the municipalities per river basin

[1] The IWRM-K program is being implemented by SKAT Consulting Kosovo. Implementation of this particular activity (Competitive Grants Scheme) is being supported by the Consortium EPICENTAR-IADK