Agroekonomika i ruralna sociologija 48. hrvatski i 8. međunarodni simpozij agronoma | Dubrovnik | Hrvatska 161 ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER Agricultural and rural development policy cycle in Montenegro: design, implementation and evaluation Aleksandra Despotović 1 , Hamid El Bilali 2 , Noureddin Driouech 2 , Vesna Milić 3 , Sinisa Berjan 3 1 Department for Agro-Economy and Rural Development, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Podgorica, Mihaila Lalića 1, Podgorica 81000, Montenegro 2 International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAIB), via Ceglie 9, Valenzano 70010, Bari, Italy 3 Faculty of Agriculture, University of East Sarajevo, Vuka Karadzica 30, East Sarajevo 71123, Bosnia and Herzegovina (sinisaberjan@yahoo.com) Abstract Around 40% of Montenegrin population is rural. Agriculture and agro-food industry amounts to about 20% of the gross domestic product. The paper aims at analyzing the main problems faced by key actors during the design, implementation and evaluation of agricultural and rural development (ARD) policy. Questionnaires were conducted in February 2012 with representatives of 26 public, civil and international organizations. Problems change from a policy cycle phase to another and according to actors' categories and their geographical coverage (national, local). However, they are mainly related to the attitude of other actors involved in the policy arena and/or to procedures, rules of the game and the legal framework and environment. For solving these problems, coordination and governance of ARD should be improved. Key words: rural development, policy cycle, Montenegro. Introduction Agriculture and agro-food industry share in Montenegrin gross domestic product (GDP) is about 20%. The share of agriculture, hunting and forestry in total GDP amounts to 10% (EC, 2011a; World Bank, 2011). Agriculture accounts for 5% of Montenegro’s exports (World Bank, 2011). Agricultural employment stood at 8.3% in 2007 (EC, 2011a). Agriculture is by far the largest activity of the rural population – more than 60,000 households get income partly or entirely from agriculture (Bulatović, 2009; EC, 2011a,b). Montenegro is a typical rural country. Less than 1% of the country’s area can be considered as urban. The share of rural population is about 38% (Arcotrass et al., 2006). Economic situation in rural areas is unfavorable (Ministry of Agriculture, 2006). Poverty is still mainly a rural phenomenon especially in the northern part of the country (EC, 2011). The paper aims at analyzing the main problems faced by public, civil society, and international institutions during the design, delivery/implementation, and monitoring/evaluation of agricultural and rural development (ARD) policies. It analyses as well the main constraints hampering the good coordination of ARD policy in Montenegro. Material and methods The work is based on an extended secondary data review and primary data collected by questionnaires carried out in February 2012 with representatives of 26 public, civil society and international organizations including key actors in the ARD policy arena 12 . The key 12 e.g. Ministries (Agriculture and Rural development; Sustainable Development and Tourism); USAID- Montenegro; Secretary for SME of Podgorica; State Agency for Environment Protection; Biotechnical Faculty of Podgorica; Regional Development Agency for Mountains of Komove, Bjalasicu and Prokletije;