The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the agricultural holding company Astarta-Kyiv have agreed to cooperate in the development of distance learning for Ukrainian farmers. Astarta experts will share their knowledge and practical expertise in the form of short interactive online courses, which will be available on the AgriAcademy platform, writes SEEDS.
As part of the cooperation, 25 courses are planned to be developed with a focus on the cultivation, storage, and processing of field crops.
The first two courses, “Sunflower. Biological Characteristics” and “Sunflower. Cultivation Technology”, are already available on the platform.
Andriy Balashov, Head of Professional Development at Astarta: “Staff recruitment is a challenge for all Ukrainian businesses today, and we are no exception. People remain a key source of knowledge, but modern conditions require new approaches to the preservation and transfer of information. That is why we have implemented an internal online training system for mandatory training and professional development of employees. We are now ready to share these developments to support the development of the Ukrainian agricultural sector.”
In recent years, Ukrainian agricultural enterprises have faced an acute shortage of specialists, which significantly affects the competitiveness of the entire sector. The issue of high-quality and accessible professional education is currently extremely relevant, and the AgriAcademy platform was created specifically to provide free access to knowledge in the agricultural sector.
Vasyl Govhera, Lead Corporate Advisory Expert at the EBRD: “We are grateful to our partners, Astarta-Kyiv, for their openness and for allowing us to draw on the experience of professionals with years of practical experience in developing training materials. We are confident that our joint educational initiative will help more people improve their knowledge in the agricultural sector.”
AgriAcademy is a free online training platform for agricultural workers and students of agricultural educational institutions, which was launched by the EBRD in December 2022 as part of its food security support program in Ukraine. The platform aims to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of a critically important sector of the Ukrainian economy, which has been significantly affected by the Russian invasion.
All lectures, training materials, and online courses from leading experts and foreign universities on AgriAcademy are available in Ukrainian. Currently, 23 courses are published on the platform. This is almost 300 hours of training covering a wide range of knowledge for both beginners and professionals. Each course includes a knowledge test, and based on the test results, students receive certificates of successful completion.
The creation and management of the platform (including course development, training tours, etc.) is supported and funded by the EBRD, as well as:
