1. Project Summary
Livestock is an important and integral component of the Balkan agricultural system that provides high quality food, cash income and employment. Livestock raising is among the main pillars of local economy in the Programme Area with 95.622 livestock farming SMEs (of cattles, sheeps and goats) and 5.332.752 animals.
In a continuously competitive market environment the production of quality milk and meat products in competitive prices are considered prominent features of contemporary livestock entrepreneurs. However, infectious diseases are one of the most serious problems in livestock, causing reduced productivity and welfare, and necessitating heavy drug use which results in:
- more than 35% income reduction for the livestock raising SMEs,
- the increase often at alarming levels drug resistance and
- concerns about drug residues in products and environment which have called for alternative ways to promote health in livestock.
The goal of the project is to support entrepreneurship and enhance the competitiveness of SME’S involved in pasture-based livestock industry through applied innovations in animal health care and livestock entrepreneurship.
In order to achieve this goal, the project will:
- Assess the spatial distribution of production diseases and the impacts on SMS’s competitiveness
- Increase the competitiveness of livestock farming SME’s through innovative vet-tools and programmes of effective pathogens control and increased productivity
- Improve livestock entrepreneurship skills and stimulate business performance, extroversion and innovation.
2. Information
Call: 2ND CALL FOR PROJECTS PROPOSALS
Project Acronym: COMPLETE
Programme Priority: Boosting the local economy
Specific Objective: Improve cross-border capacity to support entrepreneurship, business survival and competitiveness
Start – End Date: 2018-03-26 – 2020-03-26
Total budget: EUR 631,433,07
3. Project Partners
LEAD PARTNER:
Veterinary Research Institute – Hellenic Agricultural Organization DEMETER (Greece)
PROJECT PARTNERS:
- Region of Western Macedonia (Greece)
- Agricultural University of Tirana (Albania)
- Albanian Development Fund (Albania)
4. Contact for Albanian Partner
Albanian Development Fund
Contact: Ermal Gucaj
E-mail egucaj@albaniandf.org
5. Link of Project Website
6. Activities
- Kick off meeting