AGROLABS Project - Local Event

Municipality of Fier organized the second Local Event for the project AGROLABS – “Agrofood Innovation Clusters”, financed under the BALKAN-Mediterranean 2014-2020 Programme, on 29th of September 2018, in Hotel Fier Conference Center.
 

The event involved all local stakeholders, including scientific and technical staff of the Municipalities of the Fier district, representatives of the local farmers and their unions, agrofood SMEs, decision makers of Public Local and Regional Authorities, individual service providers, etc.
 

Project AGROLABS has been presented by the Project Manager, Florjan Mucaj, General Administrator of the Municipality of Fier. The second Albanian partner of the project, Agricultural University of Tirana, presented the results of the study for current situation analysis of the agrofood sector in the region of Fier.
 

The long-term vision of the Municipality is to create the first Albanian Innovation Cluster for Smart Agriculture. The first stage will be implemented within the AGROLABS project in two stages, development of the Local Action Plan and establishment of the Cluster involving all potential users, stakeholders and partners (Central Government, Regional Authorities, public and private associations, Universities, etc.).

The small-scale demonstration pilot project has been presented by the external contractor, and will include the creation of an integrated geo-information portal for the cluster with live geostatistical analysis, data from Copernicus satellites, sensors and other public sources, B2B tools for members of the clusters, e.g. small family owned microSMEs and new farmers, agrofood packaging industry, etc.
 

An extensive analysis of the soil quality for the intensive farming area of the Municipality implemented by the Agricultural university of Tirana and, a series of training and tools supporting farmers for branding, marketing, exports and legislation issues for food security and quality.

The Local event concluded with a session for public consultation with the stakeholders, discussion of the local Action Plan and long term strategy based on the project results. The Cluster is designed as a permanent network with final target to establish the “Agricultural Development Agency of Fier S.A.” as the main driving force for the development of the sector in the region following the experiences from EU Countries.