His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, visits a model milk collection point and processing unit, serving the small-scale farmers of Saschiz
On 15 May 2011, Prince Charles visited ADEPT’s innovative rural development projects in Tarnava Mare, including the village milk collection point and processing unit, funded by Orange Romania and Innovation Norway .
HRH The Prince of Wales arrived in Romania, at Targu Mures airport, for a private visit to Transylvania. Prince Charles’s first stop on his visit was at Saschiz (Mures), where he visited a recently-completed village milk collection point and small-scale milk processing unit built by Fundatia ADEPT Transilvania. These units are of great economic importance to the small-scale farming communities of Romania: milk is often the main source of income for these villages.
The survival of Romania’s traditional villages is critical for many reasons. They play many vital roles of national and European importance: they provide an economic safety-net in times of hardship and urban unemployment; they provide good quality food for Romania’s rural and urban citizens; and they provide many other “ecosystem services” such as protection of biodiversity, flood and fire prevention, pollination, recreation, carbon storage. And the survival of these villages and their surrounding landscape depends on continued grazing by cows and mowing of hay for winter feed for cows.
Prince Charles said: “I am visiting this model milk collection point and milk processing unit because they represent a vital link in the chain between nature, landscape and people. They translate biodiversity into prosperity. I applaud the work of ADEPT, Innovation Norway and Orange Romania in creating these units. They are already bringing increased income to 8 villages in the Tarnava Mare area. I hope that they will be replicated in other parts of Romania, and so help the survival of Romania’s rich and valuable landscapes and communities”.
Since it was established in 2004, Fundatia ADEPT has been promoting nature conservation, and improving farmer incomes through access to EU grants, access to markets for local products, and development of additional incomes such as through farmers markets and agro-tourism.
