The main objective of WildMAPsFiT is, as you may know, to create a contemporary and innovative curriculum of medicinal and aromatic plants’ cultivation, harvesting, processing, storage and marketing for young farmers, collectors, processors, that really adjusts to their necessities. And for that sake, the most important thing is to know what are the needs of these groups.
The first deliverable of the project describes the methodology to be used in focus groups – small groups of stakeholders with different professions, ages, gender… – to discuss the real situation of the sector in each country and its near future. Questions such as “Based on your experience, what are the challenges in your country’s MAP sector?”, “What type of MAP and cosmetic products can enhance farmers’ or foresters’ income?” or “Can organic farming of medicinal plants be more profitable than conventional?” are aimed to gain a better knowledge and understanding of the market situation.
After having carried out the focus groups, the next step is to do some research on which are the main subjects of interest for the creation of the training platform. What topics are they lacking information on? What would they be interested in getting a certificate? What practices are they willing to learn and apply?
All this process of discussion led the researchers of the project to be able to adjust the contents of the training to the requirements of the job as a collector, processor or farmer of Medicinal Aromatic Plants.
The whole process is described in detail in the Deliverable 1: Methodology for the implementation of a TNA – Training Needs Analysis – for Wild MAP Collectors that you can now read on our website. It is public, go check it out!