"Innovations are an important factor in the development of agriculture. Farmers should have easy access to them, be able to implement them into their production faster and more efficiently than ever before." This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dr. Lozana Vassileva during the conference "Food 2030 - Research and innovation for food security and improving the quality and safety of foods and food systems" in Plovdiv.
According to her words, research will be the key to strengthening the sustainability and diversity of food systems by 2030. They will tackle food waste (1.3 billion tonnes per year) and global biodiversity loss (almost 60%).
Targeted research and policies in the field of agriculture and bioeconomy will help address the three major challenges faced by these sectors today while ensuring:
- viable food production in response to growing global demand;
- sustainable management of natural resources and climate action;
- balanced rural development and their communities.
"Sustainable agriculture and food systems should provide jobs and decent incomes in rural areas and along the entire value chain, as well as healthy food and other various commodities and environmental services for all. When we talk about food security, we cannot address the problem of food waste. If no action is taken to reduce food loses and food waste along the supply chains, it is envisaged that food waste will increase by 40% or 126 million tonnes by 2020", Vassileva underlined.
"I believe that only by improving the coordination between research and innovation efforts and the links between activities funded at regional, national and European level we will be able to deal effectively with the challenges that different policies, related to agriculture and food are facing", the Deputy Minister was categorical.
The conference "Food 2030 - Research and innovation for food security and improving the quality and safety of foods and food systems" is taking place on 14 and 15 June 2018 at the Agricultural University of Plovdiv. The event is organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria with the support of the European Commission and the Municipality of Plovdiv.
The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis, the Deputy Ministers of Education and Health Ivan Dimov and Svetlana Yordanova, Prof. Hristina Yancheva, the Rector of the Agricultural University of Plovdiv which hosts the event have joined the conference.