ITALY: Beekeeping initiative launches
Salesian Agricultural School and Net4Grow launch Lombriasco Beekeeping 2020 to provide education about beekeeping
ITALY
(MissionNewswire) Lombriasco Beekeeping 2020 is a project launched by Net4Grow, coordinated by Daniel Ormen, and the Salesian Agricultural School in Lombriasco, Turin, Italy, directed by Father Marco Casanova. Net4Grow is a collaborative initiative facilitated by a network of representatives from the Salesian Agricultural School of Lombriasco, the Plaza Argentina Association, the Salesian agricultural schools worldwide, the Past Pupils of Don Bosco, and businesses and professionals in the agriculture sector.
Lombriasco Beekeeping 2020 offers a vocational training course for students and professionals to learn beekeeping and to safeguard the species and the environment. The course started on Nov. 17 at the Salesian Agricultural School in Lombriasco in collaboration with AgriPiemonte Miele. This course was offered free of charge and is reserved for fifth year students.
After the launch of the course, project collaborators have focused on setting up an experimental area called the “flowered meadow.” This, together with the positioning of the hives, will create a natural cultivation system that respects the earth and ecosystem, protection of species, and human health.
The final step will be to create a network between professionals in the sector, technicians and students of the Salesian agricultural schools across the globe. The network will facilitate technical training experiences on bees and the environment, as well as encourage school and work experience practice in several countries.
A project representative noted, “The launch of the Lombriasco Beekeeping 2020 project would not have been possible without the support of Hobby Farm of Biella, which supplied 10 hives and the materials for the workshop, and Bricco Gioino Agricultural, which provided bees and their technical expertise. We are also appreciative of past pupils from the Agricultural School and Alessandro Appendino who carefully follows the health of the bees.”
Salesian programs across Italy help youth who are unable to attend school and others who drop out to work at the few jobs available to them. A growing number of children work as laborers on farms and others have turned to the sex trade to help support their families. Those in poverty often live without adequate shelter, hot water, regular meals and health care.
Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, has close to 2 million children living in poverty, according to UNICEF. The poverty rate has risen in the wake of Europe’s economic crisis. Unemployment is at its highest level since the late 1970s with the overall jobless rate at 12.5 percent and youth unemployment as high as 41 percent.
According to UNICEF, a growing number of youth are living away from their families in temporary shelters and within government and charity programs because of inadequate support from or neglect by their families. Salesian programs work to combat these challenges by providing shelter, nutrition, education and workforce development services for youth in need.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
ANS – Italy – Lombriasco Beekeeping Project 2020
Salesian Missions – Italy
UNICEF – Italy Poverty
