The 11th Steering Committee Meeting took place on March 17th, 2022

11^th Steering Committee Meeting (SC) of the project took place on March 17, 2022.

RTA Mr. Riccardo Passero presented the 11^th Quarterly Report concerning activities from 1^st November 2021 to 31^st January 2022 and information on final steps until 30^th of April 2022.

The expert missions carried out during the 11th quarter covered activities 2.3, 4.1, 7.3, 8.1, 9.4 involving 5 STEs, for a total of 25 working days. Consequently, at 31/01/2022, the 86% of the STE’s working days were consumed and the 14% of working days are left to use.

Concerning the results of missions in the 11th quarter, four twinning benchmarks were achieved: Activity 1.4 - Indicator 4.1, Activity 2.2 - Indicator 7.3, Activity 3.1 - Indicator 8.1, Activity 3.2 - Indicator 9.4 were achieved.

RTA presented Twinning proposals on Cross Compliance. Six proposals include the possibility of introducing commitments related to soil and/or other environmental issues, that could be initially optional and then, in a long-term view, mandatory for all recipients of the “planting/sowing subsidies”.

Commitments to be respected by all recipient of planting/sowing subsidies (Mandatory):

- Measure No. 1: Ban on burning arable stubbles.

- Measure No. 2: Mandatory minimum distance for the use of fertilizers and pesticides along watercourses and near springs

Voluntary commitments that could be respected by farmers for extra payment.

- Measure No. 3: Reinforced buffer strips along watercourses which have specific pollutions problems.

- Measure No. 4: Actions to contrast soil erosion in sloping arable land.

- Measure No. 5: Green cover in fruit orchards.

- Measure No. 6: Ecological crops in fruit orchards.

 

The seminar was implemented in the ongoing 12^th quarter on 16^th March and focused on:

 1) IACS solutions prepared by Twinning in the context of Component 3 to improve the management, control and payment of current agricultural subsidies in Azerbaijan

2) Procedures to implement the Small Farmers’ Scheme and Single Payment Scheme

3)Training also included information on the organization, procedures and functioning of the accredited Paying Agencies (AGEA, ARMA, NMA) participating in the Twinning project for Italy, Poland and Lithuania.

 

Conducted seminars/webinars in the ongoing 12th quarter:

1.Seminar on introducing a Rural Development framework and setting-up a national Agritourism system in Azerbaijan took place on 17 February 2022. Twinning event with over 120 participants from MoA, AKIA, AXA, ARC, State Tourism Agency, Small and Medium Business Development Agency, International Organizations, Associations, Agroparks. 

•Panel 1. Work done on agritourism and rural development within the framework of the Twinning project and European experience.

•Panel 2. Development potential of agritourism in Azerbaijan.

•Panel 3. Agritourism policy and state support measures in Azerbaijan.

 

2.Zoom Webinar on twinning work for improving effectiveness and efficiency of subsidy policy on 3rd of March 2022. With the webinar 3 twinning benchmarks were completed (Activity 1.2 - Indicator 2.4; Activity 1.2 - Indicator 2.6; Activity 1.4 - Indicator 4.2). Over 20 officials from MoA, AKIA and AXA attended the webinar.

Topics covered during the webinar:

•Alternative options for planting/sowing subsidies: the Small Farms Scheme (SFS) and Single Payment Scheme (SPS).

•Basic requirements for protecting soil and water to be linked with planting/sowing subsidies.

•Suggested measures for Livestock support.

•Improving credit instruments’ data collection and programming: presentation of a toolkit.

During the webinar STEs presented the toolkit for Improving credit instruments’ data collection and programming, two results indicators and impact indicator.

 

3.Training Webinar on administration, payment and control of area-based subsidies conducted on 16th of March 2022.

Topics covered during the webinar:

•Session 1: Twinning work to enhance MoA/AKIA capacity for effective administration and control of area-based subsidies in Azerbaijan.

•Twinning IACS suggestions to improve the current payment and control system of area-based subsidies in Azerbaijan.

•Implementing procedures for alternative subsidy options (Small Farmer Scheme and Single Payment Scheme) Azerbaijan ("planting/sowing subsidy") and further alignment with the EU system

•Session 2: Examples on application of IACS principles and relevant internal control standards by EU Member States’ Paying Agencies

•LPIS system -building and maintenance -and control system for subsidies: Practical examples from EU Member States’ Paying Agencies

•Geospatial Aid Application: online submission of aid applications in EU Member States’ Paying Agencies

•Session 3: Conclusions and final remarks.

 

4. “Training on FDMS (Farm Data Monitoring System)” for ARC officials, planned for 14^th of April 2022.

The proposed topics to be covered are the following:

- For ARC staff. The revision of FDMS methodology and communication of the Twinning carried out work on FDMS.

- For “field data collectors” at the local level to be coached as “future trainers”. FDMS contents, and methodology for field data collection will be the aim of training activity in this case.

RTA also presented some of the topics that Twinning could cover during the FDMS training (to be chosen by ARC).