High Level Forum on e-agriculture 2gether 4 Strong Digital Agriculture April 2018, Sofia, Bulgaria

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1 High Level Forum on e-agriculture 2gether 4 Strong Digital Agriculture April 2018, Sofia, Bulgaria Background Concept note and Tentative programme In a resource-constrained world, the information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer the unprecedented opportunities for accelerating agricultural development in the post-2015 Development Agenda for more efficient and integrated food systems, from production to consumption, entirely new models for service delivery and fair and inclusive trade, and social and financial inclusion, among others. E-agriculture (WSIS, 2005) involves designing, developing and applying innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICTs), including digital technologies - in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture, including fisheries, forestry and livestock. With globalization, the information needs of farmers have increased rapidly since they have to make more complex decisions on their land use, crop selection, choice of markets and other areas that impact the livelihoods of their families and communities. Precision and smart farming systems together with other modern technologies, data analysis, Internet of Things and digital innovations have a great potential to help the farmers to produce food in a more sustainable and environmentally responsible way. However, these digital dividends are not automatic and not everyone can benefit equally. Hence, actions at system level to overcome the challenges and systematic commitment from the government to upscale, including the creation of an enabling environment, are pertinent for generating a development change through ICTs in agriculture. In this line, in 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) jointly published a national

2 e-agriculture strategy guide and toolkit, to assist countries in developing their national e-agriculture strategies and roadmaps1. The need of strategic view, and a systematic and participatory approach towards digital technologies has been realized by EU with the adoption of the EC s Digital Single Market Strategy in 2015 and the launch of the Communication on "Digitizing European Industry" in Since then, the agricultural sector in EU has begun a process of rapid digital transformation. The farming sector in Western Balkan countries, however, is facing some additional challenges towards the digital transformation: their farming sector in Western Balkan countries is dominated by small and very small family farms with unequal access to knowledge, markets, conditions and opportunities for innovation. On macroeconomic level, the agricultural sector in these accession countries is still high value added, from 10% in Montenegro to 23% in Albania and the value of employment is up to 50%. These data, in combination with relatively good indicators on connectivity, development of ICTs and government preparedness to utilize ICTs indicate that the Western Balkan region has good prospects to benefit from the dividends of the digital technologies2 (FAO, 2018). Bulgaria has strong traditions in both agricultural and food sectors. Adoption of new digital technologies for economic green growth and social inclusion has always been placed high on the agenda of the Bulgarian government. Digital economy in general, and digital agriculture in particular, can provide more opportunities for a decent future of youth, and can insure sustainable regional integration and security on the Balkans. Hence, Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union had committed to enhance the security, solidarity and stability in Europe that include solutions offered by digital agriculture. 1 Hence, an e-agricultural strategy that can prevent e-agriculture projects from being implemented in isolation (resulting from duplication of efforts and resources), deal with open data standards and data ownership and can develop efficiency gains from intrasector and cross-sector synergy. 2 Since 2008, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Europe and Central Asia had undertaken several initiatives on e-agriculture related to multistakeholder platforms, e-government aspects in agricultural sector, empowering agricultural advisory services and facilitating farmers access to markets and funds, including in piloting e-agriculture strategy mapping and action plan preparation in Western Balkans.

3 Forum objectives Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Institute for Agrostrategies and Innovations in Bulgaria are organizing the High Level Forum on Digital Agriculture 2gether 4 Strong Digital Agriculture with the aim to: Raise awareness about the potential of digital technologies in agriculture; Discuss opportunities, benefits and challenges of digital technologies in agriculture in the context of Central and Eastern Europe; Foster the multistakeholder dialogue at national and regional levels among farmers and producers, policy and decision-makers, private sector companies and technological solution developers, research, academia, advisory services, civil society and youth; Exchange good practices of implementing the digital agenda in European region, both EU MSs and Western Balkan countries, including open innovation and EIP operational groups model, the use of multistakeholder platforms and one-stop-shop systems; Bring together ICT developers and the farming community; Promote exiting initiatives that support digital transformation in agriculture Raise awareness about the policy options for digital transformation in agriculture, including the FAO holistic and multistakeholder approach in national e-agriculture strategy formulation and implementation.

4 High Level Forum on e-agriculture 2gether 4 Strong Digital Agriculture April 2018 Sofia, Bulgaria Wednesday, 18 April Farm visit (s) outside of Sofia (Lunch included) Participants: Farmers, academia, rural advisors, EIP operational groups, NGOs and private sector representatives from EU and Western Balkans. In the morning the participants will visit the farm Elite 95 ltd, situated in Popovica, Plovdiv region. The lunch will be in a restaurant in the city of Plovdiv. In the early afternoon participants will visit two farms - Dimitrovi 2002 ltd in the Town of Ihtiman and Variety seeds and plant protection ltd in the village of Kubratovo, Sofia region. After the visits and interaction with the host farmers in the late afternoon the participants will be invited to share their impressions through a moderate discussion that may include the following questions: What do you take back from the visit? What are your needs (issues) that could be supported by ICTs? What would you need as support from the government? Venue: Hotel Novotel Sofia

5 Thursday, 19 April Registration, welcome coffee and exhibition of ICT solutions, initiatives and projects on e-agriculture The most promising good practices on e-agriculture, based on the FAO call for Europe and Central Asia will be exhibited and validated by the participants. AgroSense, Serbia GaiaSence, Greece IrringNet, Serbia Smart Insect Trap, Hungary Automated pest control spraying in viticulture, Portugal Venue: Hotel Novotel Sofia Welcome speeches by the organisers Introductory presentations on the e-agriculture and agricultural innovation concepts Discussion Purpose: Provide the audience with a broad background on e-agriculture, its opportunities, challenges and regional context, as well as the concept and initiatives of agricultural knowledge and innovation systems. The role of e- agriculture in the context of global and regional challenges (Nevena Alexandrova-Stefanova, FAO) Digital agriculture in Europe, state of play (Louis Mahy, DG AGRI, EC) Status of implementation of e-agriculture in Europe, including Western Balkans (Dr. Mihály Csótó, National University of Public Service, Hungary) EIP-AGRI innovation approach: (Pacome Eyenga, Team Leader EIP-AGRI Service Point) Exhibition tour and voting

6 Lunch break During the exhibition, each participant will be requested to rank the presented solutions, based on the FAO call for good practices on e-agriculture, according to their innovation and upscaling potential Private sector presentations (each presentation will be 15 min in room Paris) UniCredit BulBank NIK Agro Bojin Bojinov Agrarian University Plovdiv ABACO Group Interactive session: How to boost the agricultural innovation through digital technologies EU Operational groups (Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain) and other projects will present result-oriented initiatives, which aim to enhancing agricultural innovation through digitisation in different regional or country contexts. Each presenter will have the possibility to make 10 minutes power point presentation. The participants will form country groups and after each round of presentations, will discuss the factors of success for digital innovation in agriculture in their country context (such as infrastructure, tools, approaches, policies and funding instruments, others) as well as the implementation challenges of the digital innovation. Purpose: Coffee break Get informed about the potential of digital innovation in agriculture Identify good practices and implementation challenges in (digital) innovation projects Country reporting on the interactive session, conclusions

7 and evaluation Transfer of delegates from Hotel Novotel to National Historical Museum Transfer of Ministers/Heads of Delegations, FAO Regional Representative and FAO Regional Programme Leader from the Hotel Marinela to the National Historical Museum Gala Dinner Venue: National Historical Museum Dress code: Business casual Friday, 20 April Transfer from hotels to the National Palace of Culture Ministers, Commissioner, FAO Regional Representative and FAO Regional Programme Leader arrivals and doorstep Welcome address on behalf of Bulgarian Presidency Opening address of the FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, Vladimir Rakhmanin EU Commissioner Gabriel s opening speech High-level ministerial panel discussion: Enabling environment for digital agriculture- policy options and strategic frameworks for digital transformation in agriculture in Europe (moderated panel discussion with ministers of agriculture from EU, Turkey and Western Balkan countries, including EC and FAO with several opportunities for questions from the audience) Moderator: Raimund Jehle, FAO Regional Programme Leader for Europe and Central Asia

8 Confirmed participants: Bulgaria: Mr. Rumen PORODZANOV, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry European Commission: Mr. Tassos HANIOTIS, Director DG AGRI France: Jean-Philippe GRELOT, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Germany: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (tbc) Hungary: Mr. Zsolt FELDMAN, Deputy-State Secretary for Agrarian Affairs Slovak Republic: Mr. Gabriel CSICSAI, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Albania: Mr. Ilir HALILAJ, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration Bosnia and Herzegovina: Dusan NESKOVIC, Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Kosovo: Mr. Nenad RIKALO, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development Montenegro: Mr. Duro ZUGIC, State secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Coffee break Expert panel discussion: Experiences from multi-stakeholder and open access platforms and one-stop-shop initiatives in agriculture BCOs (Broadband Competence offices), Administrative one stop shop for farmers, Digital Innovation Hubs. (moderated panel discussion with practitioners from academia, farmers, business and civil society from EU, Turkey and Western Balkan countries, including EC and FAO with several opportunities for questions from the audience)

9 Moderator: Svetlana Boyanova, Chairperson of Institute for Agrostrategies and Innovations Panelists: European Commission Mr Herve Dupuy, Deputy Head of Unit in DG Cnect, European Commission, Wifi4EU initiative Mr. Jan Droge, Director at Broadband Competence Offices Support Facility Mr. Grigoris Chatzikostas, IoF2020 project Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General, COPA-COGECA Prof. Dimitar Trajanov, Head of Department of information systems and network technologies" at Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering - ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje, Social Innovation Hub, TFYR Macedonia (TBC) Prof. Petrit Dobi, Single Window service for farmers, Albania V4 project on digital skills Nikola Trendov Bulgarian speaker (tbc) Discussion and concluding remarks Buffet lunch Departure