Vegetable-Growing Network of Experimentation, Exchange and Dissemination of Information (ExNet)

About of project:

Description

Stolin District is a kind of pilot vegetable-growing center of Belarus, where new technology elements and vegetable types are tested and introduced. Rural residents grow vegetables and create jobs for themselves, their families and relatives.

Goals and Objectives: Acquire experience and develop research-based recommendations for vegetable growers through pilot initiatives, the introduction of state-of-the-art technology and growth of vegetable types that are new for Stolin District.

Intermediate Outcomes: The ExNet Project provides practical support to initiatives of rural residents and creates the environment for sharing experience. The activities are aimed at the establishment of a network of Stolin vegetable growers for the purposes of accumulating information and sharing experience.

During the 24 months of the Project’s implementation, the Stolin Center for Rural Development, in partnership with FERT Association (France), brought together more than 180 vegetable growers to exchange and disseminate information about best practices.

Experiments in technology testing and growing different sorts of vegetables that are new for the district are aimed at gaining practical experience and developing relevant and research-based recommendations for vegetable growers. For that purpose, the Project outsources experts from research institutions. In 2015, 14 experiments were carried out in 54 farms; more than 200 vegetable growers tested new hybrids of vegetable crops. Thus, white mustard was used to reduce cabbage exposure to the clubroot disease, and biological protection was used to combat cucumber fungi.

Experimental and demonstration activities at the vegetable growers' plots is the most popular area of work of the Stolin Center for Rural Development. It allows addressing problems that are most relevant for vegetable growers and introducing best practices.

Study tours arranged under the Project give Belarusian vegetable growers an opportunity to study the experience of their colleagues from neighboring countries. Specialists of the Stolin Center for Rural Development and the vegetable growers took part in 10 seminars on vegetable growing in Belarus. The Project supports the publication of information materials for rural residents who are active in the agricultural business. The "Days in the Field" – workshops held in the field – help raise the professional expertise of vegetable growers, when they can share the outcomes of their work and get advice from their colleagues.

Points of Contact:

Viktar Veliasnitsky, Director, Local Foundation "Center for Support to Rural Development and Entrepreneurship in Stolin District"

+375 16556 29 39, rdc_stolin@tut.by

Hyperlink: http://www.rdc-stolin.by/