The Association for the Development of Electronic Communications and Innovative Technologies (ACETI), held on Tuesday, October 8, the Forum “EDU-TECH-AGRO-NORD”, an event organized within the framework of the Digital Transformation Days 2024 (ZTD 2024).
The event, envisioned as a platform for exchanging ideas, promoting innovations in agriculture and strengthening strategic partnerships, gathered around 100 participants: students members of AGTech clubs, teachers, AgTech companies, media representatives, ACETI members, local and international partners, academia and private sector representatives.
The President of ACETI, Ion BODRUG, thanked in his welcoming speech all those present and, in particular, the American people, thanks to whose support the implementation of such a project became possible.
“We are glad to see a great interest in what we are doing because in the Republic of Moldova, agriculture and IT are some of the fields with the greatest prospects for the country’s development. Agriculture can be improved with high-performance solutions, with the digitalization of professions, in order to become even more attractive for young people”, Ion Bodrug pointed out.
Diana Coșalîc, Director of the Agency for Intervention and Payments for Agriculture, emphasized in her speech that the digitalization of agriculture will make it a branch of agriculture with a future.
“Agriculture cannot develop unless it goes hand in hand with technical and scientific progress. Digitalized agriculture has prospects in the Republic of Moldova, we can develop it in order to be competitive together with digitalization”, said Diana Coșalîc.
According to Oleg Stiopca, the manager in charge of workforce development within the Rural Competitiveness and Resilience in Moldova Project, he mentioned the importance of multilateral training of specialists, including for the agricultural field.
“I am glad that now, all those involved in the preparation of skilled labor force understand that there is the responsibility of both educational institutions, companies and the state to prepare skilled labor force for the agricultural sector. We cannot exclude the digital development of agriculture here. If we manage to integrate agriculture with the IT sector, this will be the future of the agricultural sector,” said Oleg Stiopca.
During the event, the interim results of the EDU-TECH-AGRO-NORD project were presented, culminating with the ceremony of handing over four unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), purchased within the project.
Thus, the National Center for Seed Research and Production, “Selection” sector, will be able to use in its research activities a high-performance multispectral drone, accompanied by a D-RTK station to increase the accuracy of research. Another three drones will be used in the educational process by the Center of Excellence in Horticulture and Agricultural Technologies, the Agricultural Technical College of Soroca and the Agro-Industrial College “Gheorghe Răducan” of Grinăuți.
Another important part of the event was the presentation of the Guide on drone operation at the level of professional technical institutions, developed within the project.
The forum also included discussion sessions dedicated to agricultural technologies, as well as demonstration of innovative agricultural technologies. Technologies such as agricultural drones (AGRICOS, Dron Assistance, Globerg Solution), security and tracking systems for agricultural technology (Moldcell), sensors and systems for agricultural business automation (SAS Agro, iFarms), automated vertical greenhouses (CityFarm) were presented.
The project “Edu – Tech – Agro – Nord – Agricultural Technology Education for the North” is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID Moldova) through the Project Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity (RCRA) and is implemented by ACETI in collaboration with development partners.
