The Central Greece pilot

Central Greece: digital skills for farming and agritourism

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The Greek pilot covers the Region of Central Greece: mountains, plains, coastal zones and farmland around cities such as Lamia and Chalkida, with agriculture (cotton, olive oil, fruit) and tourism as mainstays (D7.4).

Vineyards in Central Greece. Photo: PoliRuralPlus pilot materials (RP3), poliruralplus.eu

The challenge

The pilot names an ageing population and youth migration, a lack of digital skills among people working in farming, low uptake of smart-farming technology, and an advisory and training system (AKIS, the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System) that cannot close the gap. Broadband reaches only 67 % of households (policy brief). D5.1 set four themes: a greener economy, digitalisation of AKIS actors, agritourism, and entrepreneurship that joins agritech with tourism.

What the plan sets out

The RAP aims to raise smart-farming adoption substantially, grow agritourism’s economic contribution and reach near-universal rural broadband by 2028. The brief, prepared with the Region of Central Greece and the Ministry of Rural Development & Food, recommends:

• collaborative hubs that combine digital technologies, stakeholder engagement and links between sectors;
• five regional AKIS knowledge hubs and an annual Smart-Farming & Agritourism Academy;
• access to financial instruments for smart agriculture, renewable energy and the circular economy;
• grants for digital services in rural tourism and local infrastructure;
• digital tools and best-practice repositories for evidence-based policy;
• nature-based adaptation (floodplain restoration, fire-resilient landscapes, drought-resistant crops) in all county plans.

Tools, open calls and status

The RURBAN Challenge by Open Farm, a two-day hackathon funded through the Mobilise call, brought together more than 60 people from farming, business, education, technology and public bodies, and put PoliRural+ digital tools to local use. The Develop project DASK is building a single farmer-friendly gateway for the island communities of Kythera and Antikythera (see DASK). In D7.4, stakeholders asked for AI and smart-governance tools such as the PoliRural+ Advisor and the MAA Tool, but warned that rural connectivity has to improve first. D7.4 also suggests piloting JackDaw in an area with emerging tourism.

The hubs, the academy and the grants are recommendations addressed to regional and national authorities. So far, the visible delivery is the hackathon and the DASK platform, which is still in development.