70
to encouraged institutional changes that would improve Water-Food Nexus governance;
to support inclusive fora for learning about critical issues of water-food resources in local
development processes.
Many
socio-economic and political impacts are attended from the forthcoming projects in terms
of:
Euro-Mediterranean Integration.
Agricultural development is at the core of Euro-Mediterranean integration and is going to influence
socio-economic
development, political equilibrium and migration flows between the two shores of
the Mediterranean. The emergence of a new perspective in Euro-Mediterranean agricultural policy
demands a stronger cooperation in some strategic issues: food quality standards, respect for
environmental prescriptions, preservation of ecosystems and consumer protection.
Cooperation in
these sectors can upgrade the quality of agricultural production in SEMCs and increase the
competitiveness of these countries in the international markets.
Prima Program could give a strong
contribution to strengthening the partnership between Europe and the SEMCs and to promoting
local development in rural areas. This Prima focus is also on providing solutions for citizens - a
prior concerns for ensuring food and water security in an ecologically sustainable way.
Prima
program has the potential to guarantee long-term impact on human well-being, stable societies,
job creation, good health and welfare in the Mediterranean area while addressing environmental
pressures. Such transformations in this region could naturally in turn lead to job creation, business
opportunities and growth for the EU as a whole. Indeed, the EU absorbs 50% of agricultural and
agro-food exports from SEMCs while in turn accounts for 38% of their agricultural and agro-food
imports. There are obvious opportunities and complementary products for all Euro-Mediterranean
countries.
Job creation
Agriculture is a major source of jobs in many partner countries and the EU should continue to
support sustainable and inclusive policies and investment in modernization of the sector, and
diversification to other income creating activities in rural areas where necessary. The EU will support
a resource-efficient economy by addressing environmental challenges such as degradation of and
competition for natural resources. Analyzing the structure of employment in agriculture emerges a
downing trend of the share of agriculture, forestry and fishing in total employment in all the
Mediterranean countries but still remain a gap between the two shores of the Mediterranean basin.
In the EU-28 this share passed from 6.3 % in 2004 to 4.4 % by 2014. The contribution of agriculture,
forestry and fishing in SEMCs is generally much higher than in the EU-28. Some countries such as
Lebanon (4.5%) and Israel (1.1%) show a contribution of the sector to the employment comparable
to the EU. In the meantime, close to two fifths of the workforce in Morocco and more than a quarter
of the workforce in Egypt are employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, more than 10 % in Tunisia
and Palestine and 8.8 % in Algeria. In SEMCs, the relative share of the rural population is lowering
as a consequence of steadily urbanization, but rural areas are still very populate, particularly in some
Middle Eastern countries like Egypt where the rural population is higher than the urban population
71
and agriculture is still a very important activity in terms of contribution to the national employment.
Prima program aiming to develop a smart and sustainable farming system could contribute to
address the key societal challenges of contrasting unemployment and underunemployment in
rural areas.
Support to small farmers
The overall objective of Prima program is to create the overall conditions to a sustainable and
inclusive growth in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The specific objective
is to intensify researches and direct engagement with stakeholders on the water-food nexus
theme in Mediterranean countries. The average size of farms in European countries is 16.1 hectares
of utilized agricultural area in 2013, but this average doesn’t show the remarkable differences
between big farms, such as the ones specialized in the cultivation of wheat and small allotments
reaching only a couple of hectares of land. Because of a limited agricultural area and fragmented
land ownership the average farm size in the SEMCs is generally lower than in the European
countries, ranging from 1.4 hectares per farm in Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon to 3.5 hectares in
Jordan. Topographic and agro-climatologic conditions contribute to limit the dimension of farms
with a utilized agricultural area not reaching 4% in Algeria, Egypt and Jordan. Nonetheless the
limited availability of agricultural areas in most of SEMCs, the share of agricultural land in the last
years was rising.
The Prima program will contribute to the inclusion of end-users supporting the
farmers associations.
Migration
The internal migration from rural to urban areas contribute to territorial imbalances and
urbanization and increase the human pressure over natural resources in the coastal areas. Lack of
researches and investments in agriculture reduce the ability of many southern Mediterranean
countries to adapt and contrast the climatic change. In the coming decades the deteriorating living
condition in the rural areas exacerbated by climatic change will act as a powerful push factor for
internal and international migration.
As the recent refugee crisis shows, addressing the root causes
of irregular migration and forced displacement is central to the stabilization of the Mediterranean
region (see infra).
Governance and awareness of local communities
The PRIMA program will increase the understanding of central and local institutions, the awareness
of local communities and the engagement of farmers on the need to adopt a more sustainable
production and consumption pattern in order to save water and increase food security. The main
impact of the projects will be:
increase the public awareness about the effect of climate change on agricultural production
and the urgency to launch policies to face climate hazard and support the revenues of farmers
by
strengthening their resilience;
support the capacity of European institutions to engage citizens as well as governments of the
target countries in developing strategies and policy measures to enhance water and food
security.