This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Agricultural Business Development Scheme
06/10/2004
Rural communities in the Highlands are to receive a total of £846,413 from the Agricultural Business Development Scheme (ABDS).
The money is being shared among 67 projects to enable farming families to restructure or diversify their farming businesses.
Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie said:
"The Scottish Executive is working in a number of ways to increase prosperity and improve the quality of life in rural Scotland. This scheme continues to play an important part in this work.
"I am particularly pleased that application numbers are rapidly increasing again after a period of decline. In the past we have seen applicants missing out on capital grants because they waited too long to submit an application.
"Total ABDS grant to date is now in excess of £10m contributing to total investment of over £30m. This has created and maintained jobs in some of the Highland and Islands most remote and fragile communities.
"Further funding of nearly £850,000 is further good news for farm businesses, farming families and local communities throughout the Highlands and Islands."
ABDS is a business development scheme for farmers/crofters and their immediate families and operates across the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme Area (H&ISTP).
Farmers in the rest of Scotland are eligible to apply for grant assistance under the Farm Business Development Scheme.
Some 839 applications have been successful since the ABDS was launched in late 2000. Total grants of £10,496,627 have been awarded.
ABDS is a discretionary and competitive scheme providing variable grant assistance of up to 50 per cent to farmers wishing to restructure or re-orientate production, or to diversify either within or out with agriculture. The scheme is co-financed by the Executive and the European Union.
The overall budget for the scheme is approximately £17 million, which is broken down into yearly tranches in the H&ISTP.
Applications are assessed by a Project Assessment Committee (PAC).
The non-agricultural diversification PAC is made up from representatives of the Scottish Executive and from partner organisations including local authorities, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and VisitScotland.
Industry interests are represented by NFU Scotland, the Scottish Crofting Foundation and the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association, who can send representatives to observe the proceedings. All of the above organisations were involved in the scheme's design.
The ABDS is scheduled to run until 2006.