Air, water and food are among the basic necessities necessary for life. However, sometimes we do not realize that our lives probably could not exist without bees, which are becoming more and more extinct for pesticides, which are used more intensively than before. Beekeeping is a special field of agricultural production. Bees provide many environmental benefits in the form of cross-pollination and in the form of therapeutic effect of bee products. Several recent foreign studies have shown that pesticides known as "neonicotinoids" can have various long-term effects on bee colonies, including reducing the number of queens. The losses of beekeeping are considerable due to the impact of incorrect or excessive use of these pesticides. In some cases, this can contribute to the complete collapse of the bee colony. The loss of bees has become a big problem, because bees are among the world's most important pollinators of agricultural crops, as well as wild plants. The quality of honey, pollen and the viability of bees is an excellent measure of the quality of the environment. The health of bee colonies and their development is negatively affected by any mixture of pesticides in food supplies (honey, pollen) accumulated in the hive. Therefore, it is worth striving to eliminate the loss of bees caused by improper use of agricultural pesticides, as well as lack of imagination in their application - the main consequent benefits of bee activity will be pollination of crops and subsequent increase in crops, secondly the prevention of large economic losses and finally, very important benefit is the unpolluted natural environment in which humans live. To tackle with above mentioned issues, the main objective of the project is to update and improve knowledge and awareness of VET students, VET organisations, farmers and people working in the farm production area in the field of organic beekeeping and proper usage of the chemical plant protection products and fertilisers, by means of the creation of Curriculum and Interactive training content focused on organic beekeeping and development of interactive training materials and tools on organic apiculture and rational use of plant protection products.
According to our analysis and surveys, there is lack of complex information and relevant comprehensive knowledge in the field of organic apiculture in VET systems in Europe, with focus on rational use of plant protection products and fertilizers. The Report on prospects and challenges for the EU apiculture sector (2017/2115(INI)) calls on the Member States to promote greater cooperation and the sharing of knowledge and information, including advanced and mutual early warning systems between farmers and beekeepers, foresters, scientists and veterinarians on spraying periods and other insecticide application, prevention and control of diseases, technologies that are not harmful for bees, and plant protection methods that minimise pollinator mortality; also calls on the Commission to adopt recommendations in order to support different national high-quality basic and vocational beekeeping education programmes in the EU. The topic of the project is strongly important for the agricultural VET education. In order to find a balance between nature and the use of chemicals for growing crops, we need to learn how to use plant protection products properly and effectively, in order to minimize the negative impact on the environment. Our project fulfils this aim fully and intend to produce very useful training tools for VET organisations, teachers of VET students, farmers and beekeepers as well as for agricultural advisors.