Addressing the conference, Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said that digital technology has the potential to significantly improve farming and that the digital transformation of Croatia’s agriculture has been included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO).
A total of HRK 77 million is earmarked in the NPOO for the digitisation of the agriculture sector – for digitising public services (HRK 14 million), for smart agriculture (HRK 50 million), and for launching the field-to-table project (HRK 13 million).
Vučković pointed out the ageing structure of family farms and that it is necessary to motivate young people to take over family farms. Digitisation can also compensate for the labour shortage in certain areas, she said.
“We will have the funds, and living in rural communities, with the help of investments in the local and entrepreneurial infrastructure, will be such that there will not be any gap between the quality of life in rural or urban communities,” underscored Vučković.
The state-secretary in the ministry, Zdravko Tušek, said that digitisation will contribute to producing high-quality food at competitive prices, among other things.
Efficient agriculture and its competitiveness depend on digital solutions
The transformation and survival of rural communities depend on digital solutions, which already provide support and better efficiency, Danijel Koletić of the conference’s organising committee said.
Smart villages are a new concept and it is necessary to educate and inform stakeholders so Croatia’s agriculture can be more competitive in the future, he added.
Unfortunately, in Croatia there is not one university that offers a course in digital agriculture, he said.
It is necessary to educate all stakeholders in rural communities to start learning about digital farming because without that Croatia’s agriculture cannot be competitive, Koletić added.
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