Project “Professional Courses for the Agricultural and Food Sector”
Project “Professional Courses for the Agricultural and Food Sector”
The project is implemented with the support of USAID ACDI/VOCA’s project “Small Business, Big Impact.” The main objective of the project is to build the capacities of professionals and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector by offering sustainable, innovative courses that can quickly help participants enhance their skills and knowledge to support their companies in key areas where the industry lacks capacities, and improve the productivity and profitability of SMEs. The long-term outcome of this proposed project is to build a professional workforce equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills that will contribute to increasing the
competitiveness of companies in the domestic and international markets. The specialized knowledge that will be transferred to companies belongs to the field of green economy and digitization. Special emphasis is placed on climate change – practical solutions for companies.
The project has two main activities through the following themes:
Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Challenges, and Solutions in Agriculture
and
Digitalization of Knowledge in Agriculture
The course “Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Challenges, and Solutions in Agriculture” aims to show participants the opportunities that exist in the environment and the best ways to make greater use of circular energy and create a green economy. The course will focus on the causes, processes, and projections of climate change, basic knowledge of renewable energy sources and their applications in agriculture, the potential of renewable energy sources in Serbia and the Western Balkan countries, the application of geothermal energy, biomass, and the economic potential of renewable energy sources. Solar systems (photovoltaic panels) will be particularly presented, including their potential, economic effects of their use, and practical experiences.
Participants will receive answers to questions regarding the use of heat pumps and their possibilities for heating buildings and agricultural production, as well as experiences with biogas plants. An essential topic is the Circular Economy as part of the green economy and the concept of sustainability, explaining the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy.
Adaptation to climate change in fruit-growing, viticulture, and vegetable production will be presented through practical solutions. Digitalization in agriculture and precision agriculture is a lecture topic that will enable participants to familiarize themselves with the basics, impact, scope, and effects of implementing precision agriculture technology, as well as future development directions.
Digitalization of Knowledge in Agriculture – Answering the Challenges.
Digitalization of knowledge is a relevant field in the context of modern trends and technological development. Modern ways of life, where a significant amount of time is spent on the move, impose the need to offer information in a format adapted outside the work environment and place of residence. The younger population is increasingly advocating for digital forms of knowledge, following content that is shorter in duration than traditional ways of knowledge transfer. The digitalization of knowledge is a process that has already begun. Our goal is to significantly contribute to the digitalization of knowledge through the creation of high-quality video content, featuring competent scientists with proven practical experience, in a way that has not been applied in Serbia before. This will be achieved by combining video content with field-recorded material, lecturer presentations, graphic elements, animations, and adequate audio support to produce 4 video clips. Although we believe that the traditional way of knowledge transfer through courses, workshops, and other forms of direct contact with the target audience has significant advantages, the digitalization of knowledge represents a qualitative contribution to more successful knowledge transfer.
With digitalization, knowledge will be available to users at all times, anywhere, and they will be able to review materials an unlimited number of times to assimilate the offered information. Although the digitalization of knowledge will be conducted in Serbian, the content will be understandable to countries in the region that speak different
languages but can communicate in Serbian. All video clips will be translated into English and other global languages, thus becoming accessible to a wider. The expected duration of each video clip is 10 minutes, and they will be posted on the AgroNET channel on You Tube.