Financing profile of agricultural investments: the case of the Central Macedonia Region, Greece
2008
Aggelopoulos, S., Technological Educational Inst. of Thessaloniki (Greece). Dept. of Farm Management | Pavloudi, A., Technological Educational Inst. of Thessaloniki (Greece). Dept. of Farm Management | Theocharopoulos, A., Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki (Greece). Dept. of Agricultural Economics | Gazarou, M., London (United Kingdom)
After a decade of radical changes and reforms on a European and global level, agriculture in Greece is today going through a period of particular significance for its future. A major opportunity for improving the competitive nature of Greek agriculture is linked to the transformation of its existing structures, through the adoption of more business-oriented, competitive attributes. The aim of this paper is to examine the financing profile of agricultural farms in Greece, based on certain economic parameters, as stated and calculated in the investment plans submitted to the Region of Central Macedonia. The present paper is based on the research involving 296 investment plans (improvement plans) for agricultural holdings, a number which almost fully corresponds to the total number of investment plans included into the financing programme for the period 2002-2004. The examination of the investment plans was conducted on the basis of a point system used during the checking and approval process, and was also related to the level of public participation, and the borrowed and own capital that was invested. A series of analyses was applied to the available data, based on Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and K-Mean Cluster analysis. The above-mentioned applications highlighted 4 clusters of farms with a different profile, regarding the economic parameters mentioned above. Following this, the profile of the clusters was studied in relation to the gender of the beneficiaries, the geographical location of the farms and the proposed investment categories.
اظهر المزيد [+] اقل [-]