Agnoletti (UNIFI), “Protecting typical production systems to fight climate crises and market fluctuations: a Master’s Degree course in Florence to train a new generation of area managers”.
Florence, March 15th 2022- “It is crucial to return to cultivation of all those areas that have been abandoned because they were considered uncompetitive in terms of profitability, and we should also aim to protect the typical production systems: the traditional agriculture can provide a concrete response to the food crisis feared by the FAO following the conflict between Ukraine and Russia“, said Mauro Agnoletti, Director of the International Master’s Degree course “Agricultural Heritage” coordinated by the University of Florence which is connected to the FAO GIAHS Programme and aims the preservation of historic rural landscapes.
The war between Ukraine and Russia has triggered a crisis with global repercussions regarding energy sources as well as the food resources. The concentration of the market flows of basic raw materials, cereals in particular, in the hands of a few international economic groups located in restricted areas, generates an increase of the cost of those food products that are crucial to guarantee the nutrition of many populations”, he explained.
“We need to rethink the development model which has led to the desertion of many territories over the last few decades. Those areas were cultivated in the past before being abandoned as they are no longer economically competitive, especially if compared to the globalised, industrial and agricultural production,” Agnoletti stressed.
The international Master’s Degree course at the University of Florence’s School of Agriculture, organized in the framework of the project “Building capacity: an advanced international application course on GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems)”, is linked to FAO’s GIAHS Programme to safeguard agricultural systems of global interest.
“The aim of the Master’s Degree course is precisely to train a new generation of territory managers who will be able to control these agricultural systems, including them into various models of rural development and adapting them to different conditions”, he added.
“Agricultural systems have evolved over the centuries, adapting to difficulties and to different environments and climate change. They can become essential to ensure the food security for rural populations and communities in all the continents and can contribute to tackle the climate crises which is increasingly affecting the planet”, Agnoletti said.
