EU4Youth: School Garden – opportunities for young people to learn and to develop skills in agricultural entrepreneurship

On 15 and 19 April, within the School Gardens from Oxentea Gymnasium, Dubasari District and “Dumitru Matcovschi” Gymnasium from Vadul lui Rașcov Village, Soldanesti District, two workshops were held with the title “Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Employment Opportunities for young people in rural areas”.

The Project local coordinators presented to the youth various financing opportunities for launching a small agricultural business both within the School Garden project and within the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, with real and current examples. The young people had the opportunity to see first-hand how the techniques of organic farming are applied, making trips to the plantations of radishes, blackberries, raspberries, and currants.

Furthermore, the School Garden project is a source of inspiration for teachers of biology, technology education and entrepreneurship who have had the opportunity to learn from the experience of local coordinators in order to replicate these models of agricultural entrepreneurship in their localities.

Thus, 33 teachers from 5 districts of the North region of the country, as well as 30 teachers from 6 districts of the Central area of the country participated at the regional workshops entitled: “School Garden – theoretical and practical example during study hours for the development of gardening skills, entrepreneurial skills and for career guidance”, held in the first two weeks of May.

The participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the first sources regarding the practices of organic farming, visiting organic gardens where such techniques as composting, permaculture and others are practiced.

The “School Garden” project is implemented with the support of the European Union, through the EU4Youth programme, and co-financed by the International Green Cross in 2018-2022.