Background

Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and Grass Valley Trust have generously funded Fundația ADEPT to buy 200ha of HNV grassland in the valley of Angofa (location of an abandoned village), near Sighișoara, plus the associated farmhouse and schoolhouse. Loans and donations from Friends of ADEPT in London have enabled is to buy and breeding herd of 65 pedigree Aberdeen Angus livestock.

Project objectives

ADEPT plans to use the Angofa valley to demonstrate concrete actions for habitat restoration and protection, for protection of biodiversity, under management which is suited to small-scale High Nature Value farming. This demonstration farm will show how to maintain landscape features, threatened habitats especially wildflower-rich haymeadows, and at the same time bring better incomes to small-scale farmers, encouraging them to continue traditional farming.

Beneficiaries

We will carry out mutually beneficial cooperative management with 10-15 neighbouring farmers on 500ha. We will train 90 farmers per year in nature-friendly management, and in marketing linked to nature value. More widely, the ideas demonstrated at Angofa will be replicated in other villages helping dozens of villages and thousands of farmers have netter incomes, while protecting biodiversity at the same time.

Main activities:

• to show farmers and policy makers how small-scale farming can still be economically viable
• carry out landscape-scale habitat and species mapping to assist conservation farming
• implement cooperative conservation management with 10-15 neighbouring farmers on 500ha.
• carry out habitat restoration work that shows how cooperative planning and investment can reduce individual investment and help small-scale farmers to meet sustainable farming targets
• train 90 farmers per year in nature-friendly management, and in marketing linked to nature value.
• create farm-based nature trails including interpretation signs, and a mobile phone app to give access to more information.