Two agricultural lectures on modern cultivation of strawberries and cherries delivered at the central library and a rural library

On Saturday, 15 February, hosted by the jagodina Public Library and within the award-winning project of the development of rural agricultural libraries, there were two lectures on modern cultivation of strawberries and cherries. The speaker was Dr Mihailo Nikolic, a professor of fruit growing at the Agricultural Faculty in Belgrade.

The first lecture was hosted at the central library and the participants were strawberry growers and people interesting in this business. The audience was very attentive and took active participation in the discussion with the speaker. The lecturer highlighted that the region where Jagodina is situated- Pomoravlje is very suitable for strawberry growing and encouraged farmers to continue with their production, or to increase it, but also to connect with other producers so they can jointly offer their produce to fruit wholesalers.

After the lecture in the town, the Bunar library hosted a lecture on modern cultivation on cherries, for cherries growers from Bunar and neighboring villages, who had the opportunity to hear the prominent speaker talking about planting, growing, harvesting in modernized ways. The reading room of the Bunar library was too small to accept all farmers who were interested in this topic.

 Both lectures were very useful for fruit growers in  the Jagodina municipality,  because of  the open discussions after the lectures where the attendees could consult with the lecturer, hear good advise, examples, recommendations, etc.

Some of the participants in the lectures pointed out how they would never have a chance to talk to great experts directly if it weren't for the library.

 The aim of such lectures is to encourage farmers to start agribusiness or to improve their own farming methods.

In the Spotlight, a radio program & Agricultural Libraries in Jagodina

In the Spotlight is a program at the national radio station Radio Beograd 1 from Belgrade that, by selecting speakers and topics, contributes to the affirmation of a positive way of thinking, encourages people to have a creative attitude towards reality, helps those in need. It is in line with current social events and challenges. Every day, there is a discussion with exerts, leaders, participants related to important issues.

Modern agricultural production involves the use of technology in order to make farming much easier and profitable. However, in Serbia production is performed in exactly the same way as three or four decades ago. In this week's program, on 13 February, the focus is on helping farmers acquire the necessary knowledge-economic, technological, scientific and practical.

The guests in the studio were Advisor for Agriculture to the President in Serbian Chamber of Commerce-Vojislav Stankovic ; Director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics-Drago Cvijanovic and the Editor of the website moba.rs-Mile Gosnjic. The Director of the Jagodina Library was telephoned and broadcast live.

She discussed ICT training for farmers conducted at the village libraries and possibilities for farmers to find necessary information available on the Internet.

The creators of the program wanted Mrs Crnkovic to be a part of the discussion because the services at the modern agricultural villages in the Jagodina municipality serve as an example of good practice.

Computer training for farmers continues

The computer training for farmers continues in 2014. This time, at the Glavinci Library for seven farmers.

This model of training was encouraged by the idea of integrating rural residents into social and economic life of the community. The interest at the village libraries in acquiring basic computer skills is very big and the ICT lecturer Bojan Novcic highlights that this group of farmers is eager to learn how to use computers independently. Therefore, they come to the library between the lectures, so they revise what they learned.

Farmers' expectations are not very high when it comes to ICT technologies in general, but as soon as they start learning how to type, use an email, browse the Internet, copy and save documents, photos,etc, they realize how ICT can contribute to their well-being and change their lives.

  

With a Computer in a Field - a newspaper article

The media interest in the project Agricultural Libraries by the Jagodina Public Library does not cease.

This time, the daily newspaper Politika published an article With a Computer in a Field with the aim to introduce the situation in rural areas and how farmers benefit from agricultural services at the village libraries.

They write about three AgroLib online marketplace users: Ljiljana Vulic, who sells all her handicraft produce through the Library’s marketplace to customers from other towns in Serbia; Rade Damjanovic, who is an agricultural engineer, and started using the AgroLib services and is now engaged in fruit growing and gives advice to other growers online and Milija Brajkovic, who uses Internet to sell his honey with great success and passes on important information he extracts on the Internet to his fellow beekeepers.

According to the statistical data there are 326 village libraries in Serbia, out of which 132 have computers. Only 18 village libraries have Internet access and it is almost unbelievable that only 12 of them provide Internet access to their users. Majority of rural residents are ICT illiterate and in numerous villages it is impossible to set up Internet.

As for the Jagodina Library, it was very unusual that until the project started in 2010, there used to be no farmers who were the Library beneficiaries. Today, farmers in five villages are regular at the libraries. They either use computers to search for information online, or to read agricultural newspapers, or simply to gather at the libraries.