In the Kistanje municipality of Croatia, a region known for its fish and wine, a new enterprise centre for agriculture and food businesses will support the development of rural products. The aim in providing a commercial space that mitigates the costs of running a business, is for local industry to be able to grow and bring benefits to the surrounding community. The centre will include a fully-equipped training space and kitchens.
Rural enterprise centre provides testing ground for local businesses in Croatia
- 27 September 2019
This new rural enterprise centre in the Krka National Park will be used by local SMEs to develop their services and products. It will improve the livelihood of smallholder families in the area and help our small-scale agriculture and microenterprises increase their income.
The national park of Krka – an area rich in natural resources, known for its waterfalls and gorges – is a popular tourist attraction in the county of Šibenik-Knin. Many businesses in the area provide catering and tourism services or process agricultural products. Previously, a lack of infrastructure has limited the growth of these industries.
Now, a rural enterprise centre, being built in the town of Kistanje, will allow small-scale farmers and microenterprises to expand their services; diversifying crops and creating valuable food products to sell locally or elsewhere.
A modern testing ground for local business
The new building will offer 607 m2 of floor space for SMEs. It will include four offices, a training room and kitchens. Two cold storehouses will be built for meat, fruit and vegetables, as well as two packing plants that can also be used for confectionary. These facilities will be fully equipped, certified for food production and be able to rent on a part-time basis, which will reduce the costs and risk for anyone starting a food business in the region.
There will be enough space to accommodate 10 businesses, though it is expected that a total of 22 businesses will take advantage of the centre for training activities and product testing. The centre will prioritise its facilities for 12 new SMEs in the food or hospitality sector, to encourage new businesses.
In the long-term, it is hoped that the extra capacity provided by this facility leads to increased interest from tourists and local residents in locally-sourced healthy foods and the gastronomy of the national park.
Building the infrastructure to grow
The rural enterprise centre will provide jobs for local contractors through the procurement of construction and other services during the project. Public procurement was carried out to find a suitable company to build the centre, and for professional supervision of the construction. Contractors will furnish the building and install the necessary equipment.
Once built and furnished, the rural enterprise centre is expected to employ three people to operate and manage the facility.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Construction of Rural Enterprise Center "Krka" Kistanje” is EUR 2 180 000, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 2 156 671 through the “Competitiveness and Cohesion” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Jobs, Growth and Investment”.