Fruit losses are a serious problem for the agri-food sector, affecting the income of farmers, the quality of products and the environment. One of the main causes of fruit losses is the occurrence of crop diseases, which can damage the fruits during the cultivation, harvesting, storage or transportation stages.
To help the fruit growing sector cope with this challenge, a new Erasmus+ project called Kicro has been initiated, to provide tools to improve the knowledge and identification of crop diseases and their causes for sustainable food safety.
Kicro is a KA220 VET project, led by the International Academy of Applied Sciences in Łomża, Poland, and involving five other partners from Bulgaria, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.
The project will create an e-learning platform with educational material on crop diseases, based on the selection of the most relevant crops and diseases for each partner country. The platform will be available in five languages and will be piloted by 50 participants from the target group. The project will also organise multiplier events in each country to present the project outputs and outcomes.
Kicro will support the professional development of farmers and packinghouses’ staff, as well as the improvement of the vocational education and training systems in the agri-food sector. The project will also align with the EU Green Deal objectives and the Sustainable Development Goals related to food security, health and environment.