Lessons learned from the early implementation of the 2014-2020 Romanian Rural Development Programme

The paper discusses the main findings of the ongoing evaluation of the focus area (FA) 2A of the 2014-2020 National Rural Development Programme Romania carried out in 2017 reflecting the programme implementation in 2016.. Focus area (FA) 2A aims at improving the economic performance of all farms and facilitating farm restructuring and modernisation, in order to increase market participation and orientation as well as agricultural diversification. The methodological approach applied to the evaluation combines administrative data collection and analysis, questionnaire survey, interviews, case studies, quantitative methods for indicator analysis, focus groups and counterfactual analysis. The paper focuses on the following aspects of the programme implementation: (1) the combination of new measures and measures using transitional resources, (2) measures promoting infrastructural investments and those investing in agricultural holdings, and (3) the use of the complementary result indicator R2. Concerning the investment measures the paper focuses on sub-measure 4.1 – Investments in agricultural holdings, and sub-measure 6.3 – business start-up aid for development of small farms. Concerning infrastructural measures, the paper examines sub-measure 4.3 – Investments for development, modernization or adaptation of agricultural and forestry infrastructure, which supports the construction and modernization of agricultural country roads. Moreover, the pilot estimate of the R2 indicator allows drawing lessons learned on the methodological feasibility of counterfactual methods, considering the lack of data on the comparison group and the needs of capturing the real outcomes of the Programme.