Her Excellency Elizabeth Paula Napeyok, Ambassador of the Republic of Uganda to Slovenia, and  staff, attended the 59th Fair of International Agriculture and Food (AGRA) held on 21st-23rd August 2021 in Gornja Radgona in Slovenia. The  AGRA Fair brings together associations and cooperative society of farmers and experts in the agriculture sector in Europe to exhibit agriculture equipment and machinery as well as farm produce. 

 

The 59th AGRA was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, His Excellency Borut Pahor, who underscored the special role of agriculture and called for continued focus on food in entire value chain of raw materials, weeds, supplies, packaging, marketing and different ways of consuming food sustainably, dynamic approaches, and respect to biodiversity and climate change. 

 

At the sidelines of the fair, Ambassador Nepeyok held meetings with:

 

1. Prof. Dr Andrej Simon?i?, Director of the Agriculture Institute of Slovenia and Ms. Ariana Ferfila, President of the Beekeeping Academy of Slovenia. It was agreed to explore collaborations with Uganda Agricultural Institutes, acquisition of bee keeping and related equipment as well as support training programmes to bee keepers in Uganda, specifically food safety and honey bee processing, bee therapy medication, pests and insects control among others. 

 

2. Association of young farmers of Slovenia that is composed of 38 clubs and over 1000 rural farmers. The leaders of the young farmers briefed the Ambassador on the Association education programmes to rural farmers, stakeholder collaborations, and lobbying membership to Chamber of Agriculture and Cooperative Organizations. It was agreed to explore linkages and collaboration of Young Farmers of Slovenia and those of Uganda for knowledge sharing and this could first be arranged through online webinars and seminars.

 

3. Mr. Boris Nicolas Erjavec, Director for the International Fair of Agriculture and Food in Slovenia. It was agreed to arrange a business delegation from Slovenia to Uganda to explore opportunities in Uganda and participate in the Agricultural show in Uganda. Uganda businessmen and farmer associations will also be invited to participate in the next AGRA fair with Presentations and B2B engagements.

 

4. Mr. Karl Vogrin?i? and visit to his bee farm in Gorja Radgona, where he shared information about bee keeping. It was noted that bees can also offer therapy treatment on top of provision of honey. Mr. Karl Vogrin agreed to share his experience in setting up bee hives, bee keeping and honey harvesting and processing with Uganda bee keepers.