Environmental policy and administrative management

The intensive farming that makes significant environmental impact is typical in Kelme district. In order to minimize agricultural pollution of ground waters and to reduce anthropological pressure to the biodiversity there is a need to increase level of ecological farming in the district. The project aims to stimulate ecological farming and its cooperation, increase number of ecological farms and their cultivation land, and to establish ecological farming cooperative in the district. In this way agricultural pollution will be reduced in the district. It is expected that after the full-size project is implemented, 30 new ecological farms will be established, and area of ecological farming land-use will increase more than by 1,000 ha. The planning grant is needed to inform and train farmers of the district on possibilities and requirements of ecological farming, and to find out what is the real need of ecological farms and cooperatives in the district, and what ecological farming activities would be the most attractive to local people. During the seminars active farmers will be invited to join ecological farming cooperative. The level of local peoples and NGOs participation is very high. Already 400 people took part in the questionnaire about development of the agricultural farms in Kelme District.

Lithuania