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submission and evaluation of applications can be found
in table 5.
Evaluation rules
The award criteria, scoring, thresholds and weightings
for RIAs listed in part 5.1.6 will be used.
Grant agreement
PRIMA grant agreement (multi-beneficiary), based on
Horizon 2020 Model Grant Agreement
Consortium agreement
Participants in projects resulting from this Call for
Proposals will be required to conclude a consortium
agreement prior to the conclusion of the PRIMA grant
agreement.
1.1.2 RIA Call
– Topic 2: Improving the sustainability of Mediterranean agro-ecosystems
Challenge
In the last decades a substantial proportion of agriculture in the Mediterranean area has been
modernized and intensified. However, yield increases are still insufficient to face the ever-growing
food demand. Furthermore, unsustainable intensification of practices has often led to pollution,
overexploitation of natural areas and resources, loss of fertility of agricultural land, soil erosion and
salinization, runoff, and in some cases desertification.
The objective of this call for proposals is to develop Mediterranean innovative cropping and livestock
systems including inland aquaculture, able to cope with limited resources and environmental
constrains while enhancing food production stability over time and ensuring a production of high
quality agricultural outputs that will allow increase in farmers’ income and preserve agro-ecosystems
integrity and services.
Scope
This objective should be met by developing innovations at the level of the cropping, livestock or
farming systems, taking into consideration the social, economic and environmental aspects. The
projects should target the Mediterranean crops, animals and the Mediterranean farming systems and
the specificities of their natural Mediterranean environment.
Design of new production systems should allow adaptation of the Mediterranean farming systems to
climate change, reduction and optimization of use of natural resources in particular water and/or
potentially polluting inputs (e.g. pesticides, organic and mineral fertilizers, manure and antibiotics),
management of soil conservation and/or decrease in erosion and soil salinity.
Research projects are expected in the following thematic areas: better linkage between livestock
(including freshwater aquaculture, as a component of proposals for agro-ecosystem projects) and crop
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production; a range of different systems should be included (e.g. organic farming, agroecology,
agroforestry, …) as well as their resilience to climate change impacts taken into account; valorizing
existing biodiversity through sustainable use of underexploited and new species, breeds or varieties of
interest in farming systems; development of production of legumes or use of other local
Mediterranean varieties/ species and its insertion in cereal soles, crops rotations and crops association.
The projects could include the use of innovative technologies, such as digital technologies, smart
space
data and related data and technologies.
The inclusion of end-users (farmers’ organisations, extension services, farmers, food industry, NGOs
and consumer associations) in the research consortiums is encouraged to speed up innovation.
Projects should consider the involvement of the different type actors as part of the Agricultural and
Knowledge Innovation System and the multi-actor approach
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.
Expected Impacts
Projects funded under this call for proposals must target Mediterranean farming systems taking into
consideration the specificities of the Mediterranean climate and ecosystems. Project could deal with
crops and/or animals systems. Projects should contribute to develop and propose new sustainable
production systems by reducing negative impacts on the environment while increasing yields. The
solutions proposed should increase the viability of farms and the incomes of workers thereby social
aspects and employment should be considered.
More specifically, the impacts expected from the projects should concern one of the point listed below
(potentially several):
Development of low-input systems with high productivity and low environmental impact
A more appropriate use of lands by diversified ago-ecosystems, integration of ecosystems
services and mix cropping-livestock activities is expected
Integration of ecological, agronomical and socio-economic knowledge to design and assess
efficient productive systems based on agroecological concepts and to address the difficulties
of transition of technical practices
Promote and develop a sustainable use of underexploited and/or new species and Improved
local species / breeds / products and farming systems best suited to Mediterranean conditions
Table 3. Supporting information for the Section 1 Call for Proposals, Topic 2: “Sustainable
Ecosystems”
Type of action
Research & Innovation Action (RIA)
Total indicative amount allocated to this call
€ 6,1 million
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The multi-actor approach aims to make innovation more demand-driven, and therefore should ensure
genuine and sufficient involvement of various actors (end-users such as farmers/farmers' groups,
foresters/foresters' groups, fishers/fisher's groups, advisors, businesses, etc.) all along the project: from the
participation in the planning of work and experiments, to implementation, the dissemination of results and a
possible demonstration phase. A multi-actor project proposal needs to demonstrate: how the project proposal's
objectives and planning are targeting needs/problems and opportunities of end-users and how it complements
existing research and best practices
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