On November 5th, USAID’s Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture (ACCA) Project presented two recently published climate change studies – one focused on its effect on Macedonia’s Agricultural Sector and the other focuses on its negative impact on livestock. The livestock study is the first to be conducted in Macedonia.
The findings were shared at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Economy (MAFWE) with approximately 50 farmers, traders, suppliers, and representatives from farmers’ associations, academia, governmental institutions, and NGOs and will be widely available to all stakeholders in the agricultural sector. They provide a foundation of information to be used in future adaptation initiatives in agricultural and animal production, and will serve as a reference document for climate change related policy and adaptive activities in agriculture, particularly for MAFWE.
“Climate change is one of the U.S. Government’s world-wide priorities,” said USAID Mission Director James Stein. “Here in Macedonia we’re helping individual farmers mitigate the effects of climate change.” In closing, he encouraged farmers to follow the many helpful recommendations found in the reports.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Vancho Kostadinovski and USAID ACCA project Chief of Party Petar Gjorgievski also made remarks, while prof. Ordan Chukaliev PhD and prof. Sreten Andonov PhD made short presentations on the findings from the two studies’.
USAID’s ACCA project, implemented by the Rural Development Network, is a three-year project, launched in April 2012. The aim of the project is to help farmers maintain their income levels by mitigating the major impediments caused by the changing environment. Project efforts are focused on the Mediterranean zone, including the Vardar region and parts of Strumica and Gevgelija — agriculturally rich areas that are most affected by climate change.