The main goal of the KICRO project was to provide the fruit-growing sector with tools to improve their knowledge and better identify crop diseases and their causes, thereby enhancing food safety and contributing to sustainable agricultural production. The project aimed to develop a multilingual e-learning platform that would offer easily digestible educational content on crop diseases. Additionally, through organizing training sessions and pilot tests, we sought to enhance the skills of farmers, packinghouse workers, and other stakeholders in the agri-food sector. The project also aimed to disseminate its results widely to a broad range of stakeholders, including policymakers, experts, and decision-makers, to promote sustainable production and food safety in the context of climate change.
The KICRO project was initiated to address urgent needs in the European agri-food sector, which faces significant losses in fruit and vegetable production due to crop diseases and physiological disorders. There is a clear gap in available tools for crop disease identification, which are often too complex or difficult for farmers and packinghouse staff to understand. The KICRO project aimed to fill this gap by providing accessible, user-friendly, and multilingual educational materials on plant disease recognition and prevention. Additionally, the project addressed needs related to improving food safety and promoting sustainable agricultural production, aligning with the European Green Deal priorities and the goal of reducing food waste.