PRODUCTION OF BIOENERGY UNDER EAFRD SUPPORT IN LATVIA

Historically Latvia has been developed as a country of agricultural production. There is a low economical activity in rural areas, the level of rural households income is almost by third lower than in town households. It was a great opportunity for rural areas in Latvia, when the Funds became available from European Union (EU). Research aim: to analyze EU support utilization for production of bioenergy in rural areas of Latvia. Research methods: theoretical discussion, statistical data analyses, analyses and syntheses, expert interviews. Research results: For the EU planning period 2007-2013 the Rural Development plan, worked out by Ministry of Agriculture, has four axes, where the third axe is Promotion of rural life quality and its diversification financed by European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). One of the subactivities is to support production of renewable energy from by-products of agricultural production.