the world of organic agriculture - Organic Eprints

3 Contacts and Data Sources
Scientific and Technical Research Council, and University Research Funds. To a limited extent,
partial funding comes from the general budget of the institutions.
The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB) promotes comparative research in
different Mediterranean countries through its Master mobility program and its network
MOAN.
17.6.2 Training
Training is mainly vocational provided by associations and extension services. Only in Morocco,
Tunisia and Turkey academic training is given at graduate and post-graduate level.
In Morocco (Kenny, 2004), a training program exists for post-graduate students in Horticulture
and Agronomy. The only academic courses are taught at the Complex of Horticulture in Agadir,
which is an offshoot of the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine (IAV).
Conferences on specific topics related to organic agriculture were conducted by some IAV faculty
members in different regions of Morocco to promote organic agriculture in the mountain
areas. Private companies are also seeking advices and technical assistance from national and
international experts, particularly in organic horticulture.
In Tunisia (Ben Kheder, 2004), some modules on organic agriculture are being offered to students
(agricultural technicians and engineers) at different agronomic institutes. A sort of specialization
is being planned for engineer students at one of these institutes. Two Masters of Science are
being offered in sustainable agriculture and protection in organic agriculture.
Many days of training, short sessions and short courses on various topics of organic agriculture
were offered to technicians, engineers and farmers. This training led to the set-up of regional
networks. Each region has:
• three technicians / engineers representing the regional agricultural service, the
regional agricultural training center and the regional union of agricultural farmers
which are in charge of information extension and training of the professionals.
• the professionals involved in organic agriculture: production, processing, marketing
etc.
In Turkey (Aksoy and Can, 2004), at every faculty of agriculture there is at least one course on
organic agriculture taught at graduate level, and a few electives. Also vocational schools (2 to 4
years after high school to train technicians) started programs on organic agriculture. Training
activities are being handled by the Ministry of agriculture MARA and by ETO on a yearly basis.
The extension agents at a provincial level are handling farmers’ training programs. In order to
promote farmers in the protection zones of the selected 6 dams, MARA organized 39 training
programs and trained 990 farmers.
IAMB grants scholarships to citizens coming from Mediterranean countries to attend the postgraduate
and Master course in Mediterranean organic agriculture, which it has run since 1999,
and organizes special sessions of short training in some of these countries (Fig. 1 and 2).
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