Description
The project aims at fostering sustainable farming by the means of the development of an Organic Model Garden and knowledge reousrce center primarily for country families with very limited financial resources but access to land. The collection and presentation of local fruit and vegetable varieties as well as traditional and resourcewise agricultural practices will provide learning opportunities while the centre will also enable common seed and seedling cultivation for the community. The centre will demonstrate sustainable gardening and food processing practices with a focus on environmental and economical benefits, and beneficiaries will be supported by advisers, educational trips, seminars, public programs, workshops in relevant topics. The project is also to initiate partneship building between rural and urban communities through participatory programs.
Summary of project results
The project sought to address the challenges of rural poverty and the obstacles to sustainable lifestyles, with emphasis on the lack of self-care and self-sufficiency, the related "learned inertia" and the reduction of agronomic diversity. Main results included the establishment of “Vadóc Garden” – a vegetable garden specialized in local varieties and with demonstration purposes. Here, with an active community involvement, the seeds of many local vegetable varieties were grown and reproduced. By the end of the project 33 group presentations were held here for various local groups (schoolchildren, retired, teachers, etc.), providing an opportunity for more than 700 people to learn about special vegetables and organic vegetable production methods. Regarding these the community around the garden could acquire knowledge through two study trips and ten "eco-workshops". During the winter months different processing modes and tools were tested at another 8 community workshops. As part of the latter, ten different products have been developed by the commnity (such as flavoured dried vegetables, courgette ratatouille) as a basis for future production and product distribution on a community basis and under a common brand name. In addition to the community garden, the initiation of private gardening was also encouraged. In total, based on their commitments, 20 families were provided with seeds, seedlings and fruit trees. Besides, small organic plots were created in two local public institutions, with a focus on herbs. For those interested, bio-horticultural counseling was also provided, but a series of articles on relevant issues were published on the local news portal as well as a small guide was also compiled and distributed. Overall, the project was able to broaden and expand the community's scale, transferred knowledge promoted self-care of the local community, contributed to more sustainable and healthy lifestyles.
Summary of bilateral results