Promotion Of Organic Agriculture For Protection Of The Ohrid And Prespa Lake

About the project:

Health and environmental protection are becoming main priorities at a global and local level. People living in urban communities are especially concerned about how to obtain healthy food and protect their health. The media informs the public about the consequences of diseases, but does not inform them about locally available healthy food. Usage of pesticides in conventional agriculture negatively influences the health of consumers and the biodiversity of the lakes.

The main goal of this project is to promote behavior change and to stimulate consumption and production of organic food in urban areas in the Ohrid and Prespa Cross Border Regions. Main activities are awareness raising campaigns, assessments of public opinion, workshops and cross border meetings with farmers, experts and municipality authorities. The target groups are farmers and consumers from the municipalities of Ohrid, Struga, Debarca and Pogradec.

Timeframe:

September 2008 - December 2009

Partners:

Civil Society Organization PEF from Pogradec

Results:

Established four Citizens’ Advisory Boards (one in each municipality) comprised of farmers, the Agency for Agricultural Support, local branches of the Ministry for Agriculture and representatives from the Municipalities
Created a Logo and Motto for the Project: Take care of yourself. Take care of nature. Organic food
Designed and produced posters, fliers, t-shirts, hats, paper and cloth bags
Organized two joint visits to organic farms in Pogradec, Albania and Valandovo, Macedonia. Participants were farmers from two countries and they used the opportunity to share good farming practices
Organized two joint seminars for the Citizens’ Advisory Boards in both countries and 30 field workshops for the farmers included in the project
Selected local farmers that produce healthy food and promoted their work in the local media
Drafted and published an assessment of public opinion about organic food
Setup free stands for the promotion and sale of organic food