Article by Jocelyn Parot, Urgenci
Belgrade, Serbia, 29 March 2022
A three-day international conference dedicated to agroecology kicked off in Belgrade on the 28th of March.
From March 28 to 30, an international working meeting dedicated to agroecology – ecological agriculture, which contributes to sustainability and climate resilience, is taking place in Belgrade for the first time. This gathering is part of the project “Mediterranean Caravan of Agroecology”. Representatives of associations from several countries are gathering in Belgrade: Italy, France, Portugal, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Lebanon and Egypt.
Intensive industrial agriculture brings with it a number of very negative consequences: impoverishment of biodiversity, progressive decline in soil quality, water and soil pollution, impoverishment of small producers… Faced with the threat of climate change and the rarefication of fossil fuels, one way to maintain food production and preserve people’s health and the environment is to turn to sustainable ecological practices implemented by small producers and family farms.
The Erasmus + project “Mediterranean Caravan of Agroecology” aims on the one hand to develop a methodology for education in the field of agroecology, and on the other to collect old knowledge and create a platform that would give farmers the opportunity to share their knowledge.
Agroecology provides answers to the questions: How to reduce the pressure on natural resources and ecosystems and at the same time produce enough to feed our societies? How to provide small producers with fair purchase prices for their products? What role do consumers have in transforming the food production system to make it more sustainable and focused on local agriculture?
The project’s activities already started in several countries: webinars and podcasts have been organized. You can check the project partners’ websites (links below) to check the latest updates in each country:
URGENCI (France) https://urgenci.net/about-us/ – the largest European network of local solidarity based partnerships between producers and consumers
BUGDAY (Turkey) http://bugday.org/english/?page_id=56 – Movement for Organic Life – Turkey’s Largest Umbrella Association for Organic Agriculture
DEAFAL (Italy) https://www.deafal.org/home-page-en/ – international organization for the development of regenerative agriculture aimed at small producers and family farms
FSCIENCIAS https://fciencias-id.pt/ – Association for Scientific Research and Development (Portugal
HSEP (Croatia) https://hsep.hr/ – Croatian Association of Organic Producers
GREEN TRANSITION from Serbia https://www.zelenatranzicija.rs
At the international level, a webinar was organized, with 3 speakers from Portugal, France and Italy, on How to manage Community Supported Agriculture farms in the Mediterranean region: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZF6sAj37KU (held 22 February).
Similarly, the first of a long list of podcasts was already released: Our common vision of Agroecology, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlQv38b75SU&t=1230s
The international gathering that is currently being held in Belgrade is a closed, working type, but it is also just one of the activities that the project partners will undertake in the coming period with the aim of spreading knowledge about agroecology. In addition to gathering knowledge, the plan also includes webinars intended for agricultural producers as well as practical workshops where all those interested can see how the basic principles of agroecology are applied in practice.
Small producers are the ones who produce the most in the world, while at the same time being those in the value chain who are doomed only to crumbs of profit. On the other hand, supermarkets and unfair trade practices that favor large agricultural producers make it impossible for consumers to have access to quality domestic products. Such unjust and unrealistic production, economic and social practices that are being pushed into the global food production system are unsustainable in every aspect in the long run.
For all additional information about this event, interviews and the like, you can contact us at contact@urgenci.net.
