KOSOVO: Assistance in strengthening agricultural advisory services

Project description

This Technical Assistance assignment, financed by the European Union, had the mandate to provide specific support to the Department of Agricultural Council (ATSD) and the Department of Rural Development Coordination (RDD) of the MAFRD in operationalising of the National System of Advisory for Agricultural and Rural Development (KASARD) and its incentive schemes through the realisation of the following tasks: i) detailed assessment on advisory capacities and agriculture and rural development training; ii) review of the agricultural and rural development services strategy; iii) Central and local public service capacity building; iv) preparation of advisory, training and information packages towards farmers; v) programming of support incentives for counselling and the improvement of agricultural vocational training under the National Plan for Agricultural and Rural Development (ARDP); vi) implementation of an awareness campaign for counselling and training and vii) involvement of agriculture education, training and research institutions within the KASARD.

The KASARD, which received the support of CA 17 International’s Technical Assistance, had the mission to provide quality services to farmers by creating synergies between the fields of consultancy, training, information, support services and research, to increase the performance and competitiveness of the Kosovar agricultural sector.

Project goals

In order to increase the performance and competitiveness of the Kosovar agricultural sector, the overall objective of the project was to support MAFRD in the establishment of an Operational Council System for Agricultural and Rural Development in Kosovo (KASARD) to provide quality services to farmers and to create synergies between the areas of counselling, training, information, support services and research.

Services provided

In Kosovo, CA 17 International, has been deploying since May 2014 and for a period of two years, a technical assistance team composed of two international senior experts and a pool of international (175 men/day) and national (1200 men/day) short-term experts Supporting the Kosovar Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD) in strengthening its agricultural advisory services and improving the quality of its laboratories’ technical services.