Europe will Allocate over € 100 Million to Digitalise Agriculture

The European budget will allocate over € 100 million to digitalise agriculture over the next two years, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, said at the forum “Together for a High Digital Agriculture”. The event took place in the National Palace of Culture on 20^th of April and is part of the programme of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

More than 200 people from the IT sector and agriculture in Europe participated in the discussions on digitisation in agriculture. Bulgaria’s Minister of Agriculture Rumen Porozhanov noted that it develops at different rates in the different countries and committed that Bulgaria will soon have a strategy for modernisation of agriculture, covering not only large but also small farmers. It will include training them on a regional level, enabling them to access broadband internet and promoting the use of digital technologies.

There will be an additional stake in the new programming period of funds for digitisation of agriculture for the whole of Europe, minister porozhanov said.

EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said that new digital technologies could revolutionise agriculture, making agricultural work much more effective and sustainable. However, she said there is a serious digital divide between rural and urban areas.

Only 40% of rural households in the EU currently have access to fast broadband internet while this rate for the EU as a whole is 76%.

Maria Gabriel said that € 6 billion is available for broadband internet deployment.

Lilyana Pavlova, the minister for the Bulgarian Presidency, predicts that within 2 years, nine out of ten jobs will require digital skills.

FAO representative Raymond Jele warned that world hunger problems are getting worse and reliance will increasingly be placed on e-farming that will lead to sustainable yields and more food production. Moreover, in the year 2050, the population of the Earth is expected to reach 10 billion people.