The project addresses the issues of climate change adjusted, sustainable rural development, enshrined in European Green Deal, being transferred to rural areas of Albania. Losses in biodiversity, climate changes, weather extremities affecting Albanian horticulture, including fruit, berries, vegetable production, and abandonment of lands and its fragmentation negatively affect Albania and the sustainability of its agricultural sector, especially in micro and small farming.
The project aims to support biodiversity, protect, and promote circular economy models among Albanian small farmers and to create a group of local leaders that will help small farmers to adapt their farming techniques to preserve biodiversity on farms, and to raising awareness of climate change vulnerabilities and technical, agricultural and bio-engineering adaptation solutions in a sustainable, self-efficient, and cost-effectively way. It’s goal is to promote the use of smart on-farms technologies and adjustments resulting in biodiversity protection, sustainable rural development, and facing climate change challenges, such as restoration and preservation of old varieties of crops and their diversity, sustainable land management, management of old orchards and trees and restoration of fruit bushes, sowing the fields with post-harvest plants that provide the soil with phosphorus and potassium which affects biodiversity, reduce the number of pesticides, solutions that allow entering the market, water harvesting, soil and erosion management and introducing innovative horticulture practices.
Through this project, farmers will gain knowledge and also witness in-practice measures pertaining to the enhancement of sustainability of Albanian agriculture on small farms, environment preservation, and prevention of further losses in biodiversity, by implementing accurate pilots and its practical development, through the Farm to Fork Academy trainings: an open-door, competitive, intensive capacity building training programme, run in a project incubator formula, targeting young Albanian farmers and leaders, conducted along with tutor-led solution project development and the execution of 3 pilot investment schemes. Further, the project will trickle down the knowledge via demonstration workshops for a wider group of project beneficiaries.
The project is co-financed by International Visegrad Fund and supported by CEI.