Title: Farmers' training needs in bioeconomy: evidence from Greece

Authors: Aikaterini Paltaki; Efstratios Loizou; Fotios Chatzitheodoridis; Maria Partalidou; Stefanos Nastis; Christina-Ioanna Papadopoulou; Anastasios Michailidis

Addresses: Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece ' Department of Regional Development and Cross Border Studies, School of Economic Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani, 50100, Greece ' Department of Regional Development and Cross Border Studies, School of Economic Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani, 50100, Greece ' Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece ' Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece ' Department of Regional Development and Cross Border Studies, School of Economic Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani, 50100, Greece ' Department of Agricultural Economics, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece

Abstract: The rapid growth of the world's population leads to intensive global food production, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity, and utilises large amounts of natural resources. Bioeconomy is becoming one of the most critical topics in the 21st century as it is a way to secure a sustainable future. This paper explores the current situation of bioeconomy development in a typical Greek rural area located in the Region of Western Macedonia; Kozani. The main aim of this paper is to investigate farmers' attitudes and current knowledge in bioeconomy as well as their training needs. Summary statistics and multivariate analysis were performed for the data analysis. Some indicative survey results highlight farmers' low familiarity with bioeconomy and the importance of constant and relevant training. These outcomes would be useful for understanding the current development of bioeconomy in Greece and future research on this subject.

Keywords: assessment; bioeconomy; multivariate statistics analysis; rural policy; training needs; Western Macedonia; Greece.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2024.137678

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2024 Vol.10 No.2, pp.143 - 161

Received: 29 Jun 2023
Accepted: 25 Jul 2023
Published online: 02 Apr 2024 *

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