- This year the Institute will be undertaking new projects on the role of women in rural areas, health and safety conditions for farmers, legume breeding and multi-actor knowledge building
- In these projects CIHEAM Zaragoza will be working with institutions from numerous countries to make progress in sustainable development and social inclusion in the agrifood sector
CIHEAM Zaragoza has received 1,249,000 euro from the Horizon Europe programme of the European Commission to participate in four new research and cooperation projects. They will address the role of women in rural areas, farmers’ health and safety, legume breeding and multi-actor knowledge building. Three of the new projects -GRASS CEILING, SAFEHABITUS and PREMIERE- commenced on 1 January, and the fourth – BELIS- is envisaged to start in September 2023. This brings the number of projects in which CIHEAM Zaragoza is engaged up to ten, with European financing of 2,400,000 euro.
Alun Jones, head of the Projects Unit of CIHEAM Zaragoza, has pointed out the important role played by international partnerships for the development of these projects and the emphasis placed on the social aspect of European funding. “Through these new projects we will be networking with institutions from several countries to make progress in sustainable development and social inclusion in the agriculture and food sector, addressing important issues such as improvement of working conditions for farmers or women’s leadership in the rural world”.
SAFEHABITUS and GRASS CEILING: research with social impact
The SAFEHABITUS project will run for four years and will study, analyse and strive to improve working conditions and occupational health and safety in the rural world. In this framework, CIHEAM Zaragoza will lead efforts to support European and national policy-making and will contribute with other lines of work, including the conditions of migrant workers in agriculture, CAP social conditionality and ethical working conditions in agricultural and food production.
Over the next 3 years, the GRASS CEILING project will boost women-led innovation initiatives in farming and rural areas. CIHEAM Zaragoza will take the lead in communication, dissemination and exploitation of project results that will include an online training programme.
BELIS and PREMIERE: sustainability and innovation in agriculture
The BELIS project will be working over 5 years on legume breeding, in an effort to strengthen the sustainability and competitiveness of this sector in Europe. The project has 34 partners from 17 countries with a strong presence of CIHEAM member states, including south-eastern Mediterranean countries. CIHEAM Zaragoza will lead the project’s dissemination, communication and training work.
The PREMIERE project, lasting 5 years, seeks to improve the quality of multi-actor proposals and projects that are presented to calls in the European agriculture sector. Among other lines of work, CIHEAM Zaragoza will create a multi-actor Mediterranean network and an online academy to train future applicants for European funds in best practices in multi-actor fund raising.