#NOA advises: New technologies in support of farmers

In Albania, agriculture will be one of the most affected sectors due to its direct dependence on climate. Climate changes are a real threat to the sustainable development of agriculture by negatively affecting crop production yields. As a result of climate changes, it is expected that temperatures in our country will increase over the years and rainfall will become more variable and often will cause severe damage to agriculture.

Farmers will have to undertake adaptive practices such as crop protection, primarily in orchards and vineyards, through the installation of protective nets or other techniques for land conservation, irrigation provision, etc.

This was one of the reasons why NOA staff conducted a consultative workshop with farmers of the Municipality of Konispol to introduce citrus protection technology through the installation of anti-hail nets.

“Facing frequent situations of climate changes, which have resulted in serious consequences in agriculture, has presented the need of installing anti-hail nets” - says Mr. Ilir Pilku, director of AFS consulting studio, who was invited to this meeting organized by NOA. This technology has proven efficient in coping with these situations and at the same time is associated with a rise in yields, with quality improvement, as well as with cost reduction on agri-technical services. All these elements were presented in detail during this seminar.

Mr. Fatmir Nikolli, Head of Agro at NOA and Mrs. Janulla Kekezi, Director of NOA Branch in Saranda, explained in detail the way of financing the investment of anti-hail network technology and the combination of this investment with IPARD grant schemes. Part of the counseling in this seminar was also the introduction of borrowing procedures, focusing on the main elements that farmers should take into consideration before signing a loan agreement. Through this professional counseling, NOA Micro-Financial Institution, once again clearly turned its focus on building successful businesses in Albania, as part of its development mission.