Cross-Border Alliance for Climate-Smart and Green Agriculture in the Black Sea Basin (AGREEN)

Within the framework of the first YPARD Global Café Yerevan organized on the 29th of November 2020, we were pleased to host the AGREEN project and one of the program coordinators Lilit Avdalyan.

From her interactive presentation, one could learn that the AGREEN project promotes the concept for climate-smart agriculture (CAS) as an approach for developing agricultural strategies to secure sustainable food security under climate change. The project is implemented in cooperation with Dobrudzha Agrarian and Business School (BG), Ovidius University of Constanta (RO), Tekirdag Namik Kemal University (TR), Biological Farming Association Elkana (GE), International Center for Agribusiness Research and Education (AM) and Development Agency of Eastern Thessaloniki Local Authorities (EL).

As of the future opportunities Lilit highlighted that the project “Cross-Border Alliance for Climate-Smart and Green Agriculture in the Black Sea Basin” /AGREEN/ aims to build capacities for networking and transnational knowledge-transfer base to escalate the drive for establishing climate-smart farming and maintaining higher rates of economical and social fulfilment as it is the evolution and future.

To that end, a community-of-practice (COP) approach shall be applied as one of the most efficient for building professional expertise and knowledge resulting in the establishment of an Alliance of organizations for regional branding, internet connectivity and learning in climate-smart agriculture.

A regional brand for agricultural products originating in the Black Sea Basin and produced in a climate-smart way is being developed. This strategy is being complemented with the elaboration of an interactive map of logistic centers for retail and wholesale trade which facilitate trade in sustainably delivered agricultural products in the partner countries and the regions. The method of crop modelling based on endemic sorts will be applied to test 3 different solutions for the BSB on experimental plots produced by the partners in Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia, resulting in the delivery of climate-smart crop models that will be made available for the stakeholders. An Internet Platform for liaising sustainable producers and promotion of climate-smart agriculture in the BSB will be launched and sustained to serve as an online tool for information, retrieving and distributing data, provision of contacts and trade channels as well as learning opportunities among the producers of sustainable, bio and organic agricultural products in the BSB.

A cycle of awareness-raising events and different training projects on climate-smart agriculture is being conducted in the frame of the project in all the partners’ countries.

YPARD Global Café Yerevan was one of the best platforms to share the ideas and plans and to collaborate with young and bright professionals of the field.

Picture credit: YPARD Armenia