Rural development in Flanders: a scientific assessment

Rural development in Flanders: a scientific assessment Guido Van Huylenbroeck BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Content • What does rural development means? • Role of agriculture • Strategies • Assessment of passed rural development actions (general + Flanders) • Lessons for the future: a territorial approach • Conclusions BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Definition of rural development • Hodge (1986) : “An overall improvement in the welfare of rural residents and in the contribution which the rural resources make more generally to the welfare of the population as a whole” • This emphasizes the new position of rural areas in European society: rural areas fulfil multiple functions essential for urbanised populations (yellow: production, green: nature and blue : residence services) • Rural development is then about how rural areas can better perform their functions and so can not be seen independent from urban processes. • So rural development is then not only about economic growth, but also about economic and social cohesion and integrity • It has also a prospective dimension: the dynamics of rural areas in terms of possible and desired evolutions. BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Role of agriculture in rural development • Agriculture produces both commodity and non-commodity outputs (multifunctionality). • The direct economic contribution of agriculture is declining, but the value/significance of other outputs increasing. • This valuecan be • Direct: higher prices for houses in rural areas or increase in tourism activities or accommodation prices (Vanslembrouck et al)) • indirect: higher well-being and thus better performance of such regions • Role of agriculture in the functioning of the rural system (systemic approach) should be analysed. BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Strategies to rural development • Following strategic stages can be distinguished in time: • 60 - 80: Modernisation of agricultural sector • 80 - 00: Integrated agricultural policies (agro-environmental regulations, cross compliance) • 00 - ? : Territorial and bottom-up approaches • This means a gradual shift from sector approaches to territorial approaches • However for evaluation of the past, we should refer to the old paradigm as that was the leading paradigm for passed policies. BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Evaluation of rural development policies • In general it is not easy to measure the contribution of rural development policies to local economic development • Reasons: • Lack of good methodologies (regional I.O.- analysis not yet well developed) • Lack of (adequate) data • Small contributions in comparison with general economic conditions BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

General evaluation results • In general scientific studies are not conclusive on the contribution of EU Rural development policies. • Most RD programmes evaluations only show a slight impact on economic dynamics of territories (Schmitt et al., 2003). • The problem of non-focussing and lack of a coherent local framework is often mentioned. • Most RD policies focus on offsetting weaknesses/ disadvantages (income, environmental or territories) and not on a dynamic economic development. BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Evaluation of Flemish PDPO • Economic impact: • Impact on employment and stabilisation of rural population: nihil to very small • Impact on income in agriculture: limited positive but a positive incentive to diversification of incomes (AEMs, other diversification) • Investment support gives higher survival possibilities for starting farms • No or very small chain and territorial competitiveness approaches (low multiplier effects) • Environmental impact: • Main focus on reduction of negative impacts • difficult to assess, • no clear objectives regarding role of nature and environmental resources in territorial development BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Evaluation of Flemish PDPO • General impact • Low coordination among measures with as a result no or very low synergy effects on both development of agriculture as local development (no chain approach and no local territorial approach). • Low multiplier and spill over effects between sectors because of lack of coherence in vision and actions. • Spatial and horizontal/vertical dimension is mostly lacking. • Still high dead weight payments (paying for status quo). This questions benchmarking. • Importance of PDPO (and other RD initiatives): • Mind shift • Small contribution to promoting new role of agriculture BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Lessons for a new RD-approach • In the midterm evaluation recommendations and also in the new EU approach a more territorial approach is promoted. • Leading principles of this approach should be: • Pursuing a policy of territorial economic development and not only one of offsetting (environmental, income or territorial) disadvantages • Policies based on existing linkages between rural and urban (certainly in our densely populated context) • Differentiated approach according to role of a territory in the coming decades at regional and global level • This requires a territorial approach focussing on strengths and opportunities for rural activities in a specific region (see Ramos, 2005) BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

The territorial approach (1) BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Can territorial approach work ? • Internationally some good examples such as Parmagiano region (It), Produits terroires (Fr), Pata Negra in South Spain • Own research in the peri-urban region around Brussels shows that local context can make difference in diversification and AEMs uptake • Success requires good SWOT analysis at regional level • Need of building social (confidence and capacity for collective action) and human (knowledge for leading processes and systems) capital • Need for new institutions (reinforcing local policy level) and methods (e.g. discours approach) BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Conclusions • Rural development questions the role of agriculture in society. • Support to agriculture and rural areas/sectors will in future increasingly be motivated by their contribution to the whole (urban) population. • RD-strategies should be able to strengthen this contribution and thus the economic development of regions (multiplier and spill over effects). • Territorial approach can be basis of such (bottom-up) RD policy. BVLE Rural Development in Flanders – Prof. G. Van Huylenbroeck - 30/11/2005 Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – Department of Agricultural Economics

Rural development in Flanders: a scientific assessment