Opening conference of the AGRINNO project

The opening conference of the “Agriculture innovation towards growth and employment in cross-border region – AGRINNO” project has been held in the great hall of the Assembly of the AP Vojvodina in the presence of a large number of people. The project is being implemented by the Provincial Secretariat for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, European Affairs Fund “AP Vojvodina, and from Hungary, “For Development of Csongrád County” Non-profit Ltd (Csongrád Megye Fejlesztéséért Nonprofit kft.).
The welcoming speeches were delivered by Vuk Radojević, Provincial Secretary for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Sanda Šimić, representative of the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia, Vidosava Enderić, Director of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, Svetlana Balešević-Tubić PhD, Deputy Director of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, and Béla Kakas, President of the Assembly of the Csongrád County. The project was presented by Predrag Rajić, Project Manager.
Vuk Radojević, Provincial Secretary said that the project was a historic one, primarily because it was the first EU project in which the Provincial Secretariat for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management was the Leading Beneficiary. He pointed out that the total project value of EUR 325,536.75 (of which EU donation was EUR 252,849.90) exceeded multiply its nominal value because the basic idea was to motivate young people to stay in the countryside, and that is why the target group of the project were mainly young farmers aged up to 40 years. The project objective was the overall enhancement of innovative approach in agriculture with the aim of utilizing arable land in gardens in the cross-border area by introducing new technologies for the cultivation of plant culture, and would be implemented by providing assistance to unemployed people who owned arable land in the cross-border area.
Vidosava Enderic, Director of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, pointed out that the EU recognized agriculture as one of the most important areas for which a common policy had been defined. Owing to this, the European Union today was the global leader in food and agricultural products, and our new project was an example of local action that contributed to the achievement of the global goals of sustainable development.
The guest from Csongrád County, Béla Kakas, President of the Assembly, said that people in Vojvodina were blessed with quality land and a number of sunny days, which was not only  an opportunity, but a commitment to development as well, and he underlined that he truly believed that Vojvodina could be the Serbia’s larder.