ACCESSIBILITY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME SUPPORT FOR SMALL RURAL FARMS IN LATVIA AND LITHUANIA

The small rural farms are an important part of the social and economic situation of Latvia and Lithuania; however, they have not been sufficiently evaluated so far. The aim of the research is to study the availability of public funding for the development of rural farms of Latvia and to compare the situation with the one in Lithuania. The paper analyses the RDP project measures that are targeted at the development of rural farms, and the author uses the available statistical data. The research indicates that the small farms in Latvia are supported disproportionally little, and as a result, they do not utilize their development potential. There are few support measures suiTable for the small farms. In addition, the public funding in them is very limited. In Lithuania the funding for different groups of farms is spread more proportionally, which is reflected in the contribution of these farms to the country's economy. This allows conclude that a large part of Latvian farms is economically small just because their potential (land, labour, a.o.) is not utilized sufficiently, but the current areas would provide the opportunity to manage more efficiently, as a result these farms would contribute significantly more to the economy.