Archives: Agenda

The NATAE project (Fostering Agroecology Transition in North Africa Through Multi-actor Evaluation and Networking) is a 4-year project funded by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) under the Horizon Europe Programme.

The project went into force in December 2022 joining 22 European and non-European partners and aiming to foster agroecological transition in North Africa. Bringing together a multidisciplinary and multi-actor consortium (research and education institutions, international organizations, and local NGOs) mostly from around the Mediterranean, it will identify optimal combinations of agroecological practices and develop a replicable methodology to design locally-tailored strategies for AE transitions.

The NATAE project consortium met and launched the project on 19 January 2023 during the project’s virtual kick-off meeting. The meeting objectives were to :

1) restate objectives of the project and establish a good understanding of the deliverables and related activities,

2) present the living labs context and challenges in the project,

3) clarify grant agreement requirements,

4) present and identify relevant project management tools for NATAE implementation and governance and

5) review the next activities of the project and associated meetings.

The virtual kick-off was the first occasion where the project consortium, even if virtually, with the presence of the Advisory Board and with the participation of the project’s Project Officer and Research Policy Officers from DG AGRI.

🔎 For more information on the NATAE project: https://www.natae-agroecology.eu/ 

On 1 April 2023, Frida Krifca took office as President of CIHEAM after being appointed by the organization’s Board in November 2022.

Commenting on her new position, Frida Krifca said:

“Today I officially take on the role of President of CIHEAM. (…) CIHEAM is involved in 90 transnational projects, mobilizing nearly 50 countries, and involving more than 600 different organizations and research centres in agriculture. It is a great privilege and a huge responsibility of Mediterranean countries that mandated for the first time an Albanian and for the first time a woman, in the position of the President of this important organization (…). My main objective will be to reposition the Mediterranean region at the centre of the political agendas of the different countries. The reasons are economic, such as trade and agriculture, food and non-food products and market access. We have a long way to go and I am very honoured to undertake this journey with you.”

-Mrs Frida KRIFCA

Albanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

President of the CIHEAM Governing Board

Do you want to know more about the vision of Mrs Krifca for the CIHEAM? 

Watch the video of her full speech on our YouTube channel.

BIOGRAPHY OF FRIDA KRIFCA

Mrs. Frida Krifca is the Minister of Agriculture of Albania as of September 2021.

She has 22 years of experience in administration and management, with a special focus on the development and strengthening of the financial sector, use of financial services and business development, meeting national, international, and international economic, legal, and structural objectives.

During the period July 2017 – September 2021, she held the position of General Director in the Agency for Agricultural and Rural Development where she was responsible for the administration of state budget support schemes in support of farmers, ensuring transparency and guaranteeing control mechanisms in investments and payments.

During the period November 2020 – February 2021, Mrs. Krifca was a Guest Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Agribusiness, Agricultural University of Tirana in the Rural Development Course, for the subject Rural Economics.

In the period October 2013 – July 2017, Mrs. Krifca held the position of Director General of USAID Financial Services Voluntary Bodies, where she provided technical assistance to public financial institutions and has identified, developed, and managed numerous development, financial, fiscal, and legal projects in Albania and other countries.

During the 151st Meeting of the CIHEAM Governing Board, she was elected President of the CIHEAM Governing Board, taking duties on April 1st, 2023.

The delegation from the Lebanese University of Beirut, with whom we are co-managing the DATEM master’s program, was composed of Salem Darwich, Johnny Farah, and Salwa Tohme, who came to discuss with the IAMM teaching staff the modalities of student evaluation for the coming academic years.

The second delegation came from Egypt and was composed of Prof. Ashraf El Sayed El Arabi Abdel Fattah, former Minister of Planning and current President of the Institute of National Planning (INP), and two of his collaborators, Dr. Maryam Raof Farag Rezk, Head of the Modelling Unit, and Fadi Mohamed Hisham Abdelradi Khalaf, Associate Professor in Agricultural Economics. Discussions focused on the prospects for developing scientific relations between the IAMM and the INP, particularly in economic modeling, and in contributing to the reflections of the MED-Amin network on improving the resilience of cereal sectors in the Mediterranean.

During the 151st Governing Board meeting of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) held at the Institut Océanographique of Paris (France) on 18 November 2022, Mr. Teodoro Miano was elected Secretary General of the Intergovernmental Organisation.

READ THE BIOGRAPHY OF MR. TEODORO MIANO

Teodoro Miano has been involved in Mediterranean agriculture, sustainable food systems, environmental protection, and agricultural development for more than 30 years. 

Teodoro Miano is a Full Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the Department of Soil, Plant, and Food Science of the University Aldo Moro of Bari (Italy). He is an agronomist and started his academic career after graduating from the University of Basilicata (Italy) in 1987. In 1992, he entered as an Associate Professor at the University of Bari, where he later became a full professor in 2001. He pursued his research in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. Teodoro Miano has been President of the Italian Society of Agricultural Chemistry, President of the European Soil Systems Sciences Division of the European Geosciences Union, and President of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS). He has been involved in various committees at the Ministry of Agriculture in Italy, has organized more than 50 national and international events, participated and coordinated several research projects at the local, national, and international levels, and has been involved in several evaluation committees and editorial boards of international journals. Lastly, he was also nominated Deputy Dean for International Relationships at the University Aldo Moro of Bari (Italy).

In 1996, Teodoro Miano initiated a collaboration with CIHEAM Bari, by participating in their educational programs and in research and cooperation projects. He has been a senior consultant in a CIHEAM Bari Task Force and was nominated member of the CIHEAM Scientific Advisory Board, becoming President in the second term of office. In 2018, he was selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to become Italian Delegate to the CIHEAM Governing Board, where he also acted as one of the Vice Presidents. On November 2022, during the 151st Meeting of the CIHEAM Governing Board, he is elected Secretary-General of the CIHEAM, taking up function from March 2023.

Born on July 24, 1959, Teodoro Miano is married and speaks Italian, English, and French.

In the framework of the PRIMA LAB4SUPPLY project (www.lab4supply.eu), CIHEAM Montpellier organized the first meeting of the Living Lab on the fig sector in Vézénobres, at the Maison de la Figue, on February 14th 2023.

This meeting was supported and attended by the Mayor of Vézénobres, the Agglomération of Alès and the Chambre d’Agriculture of the Gard department.

The entire sector was present at this working meeting, and farmers, producers, distributors, wholesalers, and small traders exchanged views with researchers, political leaders and decision-makers, and consumer representatives.

The objective of this first meeting was to consolidate the group of key actors in the development of the sector, to present the first results of the analysis of the sector in the Gard, to share knowledge and ideas for innovation, and to launch a debate on the assets, needs, and marketing opportunities for the fig.

Following this meeting, an action plan will be presented and the first training courses and workshops for the sustainable development of the sector will begin to take shape.

The meeting also counted on the participation of students of the Master 2 CGAT of the CIHEAM-IAMM, who for several weeks studied the different farms of the Gard, met fig growers and worked on the innovations of the sector and brought a crossed glance on the sector in the Mediterranean.

The day was preceded by a guided tour of the Vézénobres conservatory orchard and the Maison de la Figue de la main of the Centre de Pomologie in Alès.

🔎 More about the LAB4SUPPLY project

The PRIMA project LAB4SUPPLY and the development of the fig sector in the Gard and in the Mediterranean is funded by the Euro-Mediterranean PRIMA program and the French National Research Agency (ANR). CIHEAM Montpellier is the French partner.

Contact: Maite Puig de Morales (puigdemorales@iamm.fr)