Belarus' Beryoza District, Brest Oblast, will implement a project to promote agro-eco-entrepreneurship, BelTA learned from Director of the Vysokoye Environmental and Local Lore Center Natalia Strok.
The center became one of the winners of the contest of initiatives aimed at promoting business support infrastructure as part of the Local Economic Development Support Programme in the Republic of Belarus run by the EU and the United Nations Development Programme. Belarus' Beryoza District was given the green light to set up an agro-eco-entrepreneurship support center in the Vysokoye village.
“This center will help support small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas, the construction of infrastructure for processing organic products and growing medicinal plants. The initiative provides for teaching locals principles of environmental entrepreneurship. It is expected to create new employment opportunities,” Natalia Strok said. Medicinal plants can later be used in beverages, spices and cosmetic products.
All interested parties are invited to join the so-called green school where they will learn what plants are considered medicinal and how to properly store and use them. Special equipment designed for processing, drying and packaging medicinal plants will be installed at the agro-eco-entrepreneurship support center. The locals that are willing to take up small-scale farming or crop growing on subsidiary plots are invited to participate in the initiative. The Beryoza District Executive Committee has allocated twelve hectares to medicinal plants in Vysokoye. At the outset, the participants are to harvest mallow, cornflower, chamomile, marigold and rosehip.
“In addition to that, we are going to introduce some innovative technology in crop production. We will set up a nursery facility at school where we will grow trees and shrubs in plant pots, for example guelder-rose, rosehip, mountain-ash, hawthorn, blackthorn, lindens and lavender. Our second priority is to use beneficial micro-organisms for biowaste processing,” remarked Natalia Strok.
The initiative has a total budget of more than $155,000, with 70% contributed by the European Union. It will kick off in February and will run for a year. During this period the organizers are set to carry out a number of educational and other activities for the locals.
The Local Economic Development Support Programme in Belarus is financed by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with Belarus' Economy Ministry. In Brest Oblast the pilot project takes place in Beryoza District and Kobrin District.
Source: information agency BelTA
