Farmers specialized in growing berries will receive training in areas running the full gamut from cultivation to supplying the produce to the markets. Three associations from both sides of the Nistru River have created a cooperation platform for this purpose. The project is funded by the European Union, through the Support to Confidence Building Measures (SCBM) Program implemented by UNDP Moldova.
The farmers' effort to meet the consumers' demands for berries will be supported within the framework of the BerryDev project, implemented by the Agency for Sustainable Socioeconomic Development “BizGates” and the Association “Pomuşoarele Moldovei”, in partnership with the Transnistria-based Small Business Association “Beliy Most”.
Over the project's duration, this year and continuing in 2017, the trainees will learn the newest technologies of cultivating, storing and distributing berries, from trainers that include foreign experts. Study trips will be organized on both banks of the Nistru and in Romania. Also, there will be created two demonstrative plots to showcase advanced techniques of cultivating and precooling berries.
Recently, 20 farmers, consultants and representatives of farmers' associations visited a number of households in Criuleni and Orhei, where they were familiarized with new techniques of cultivating strawberries and other berries, novel precooling installations to extend shelf life, and packaging destined for retail stores.
It is expected that as a result of the project at least 50 farmers on both banks will apply the best berry-growing practices to boost productivity and income.
