Agrobio backs social agriculture

Social agriculture increasingly represents a feasible innovative approach to bringing about economic empowerment and the social inclusion of vulnerable persons and families through agriculture based resources.

Falling within MAIE – the Multifunctional Agriculture Initiative of Europe, in partnership with representatives from Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Finland, AgroBio – the Portuguese Organic Agriculture Association staged a social agriculture training program at the Higher Agrarian Institute of Coimbra on 30th, 31st October and 1st November.
With the audience made up both of farmers and social welfare professionals, the core objective of this social agriculture training program involved raising its profile, specifically as a means of supporting rural regions through networking, raising standards of qualification through a mixture of agriculture and social action and interlinking European movements and their activities.
The end of the training program foresees the development of a ‘Social Agriculture Entrepreneurship’ curriculum enabling the mobility of trainees and the awarding of credits accessible to all participant countries.

Lastly, and in order to close the MAIE Project, its final conference was held at the Nova University of Lisbon on November 6th.

About the author

Hugo Filipe Lopes:Has a degree in sociology and a post-graduate qualification in clinical nutrition from the Egas Moniz Faculty. Collaborates with a number of online publications, a trainer and nutritional therapist. Honourable mentions in the Casa da Imprensa and Lisboa à Letra competitions..