Kazakhstan Doctoral Students Learn about Organic Farming at LoginEKO

Shared expertise was the best part of a study visit at LoginEKO

Bekturganov Aidos and Kaldykozov Nurpeiys, doctoral students from Kazakhstan, said that the best part of their study visit at the LoginEKO Research & Development Centre in Serbia was meeting such experts in organic farming. During their visit, they learned about innovative technologies and new types of production, which will be very useful for writing their doctoral dissertations.

The 4-day visit at the end of January was part of a scientific internship with the Kazakhstan National Agrarian Research University in Almaty. They are  researching the topic of designing and implementing cultivation technology using biogenization tools in order to increase yields and ensure ecologically sustainable production of corn and soybeans. They realized they share LoginEKO’s goals and were able to learn a lot: “The process of seed treatment against pests is very interesting, how it takes place in a large sealed bag with a capacity of about 30 tons, and how carbon dioxide is introduced with a vacuuming method.” They were also fascinated by the way our tractors operate and simplify work: “Each tractor driver has his own account to perform his/her operations. The tractors are equipped with GPS navigation devices and a monitor, and because they use cruise control they remember the operating speed and the number of revolutions. All information is stored in the LoginEko database.” The experience at LoginEKO will help Bekturganov and Kaldykozov add new aspects to their research and enhance the quality of their PhD projects. It may also lead to great future collaborations because they extended their academic network.

The students also liked the city of Novi Sad and the Serbian colleagues whom they found “very hardworking, generous and responsive.” It was a good experience both ways. Our Senior Lead Agronomist Dr. Đura Karagić sees many benefits of such visits for LoginEKO as well: “They are helping to build LoginEKO’s identity as an R&D center for sustainable plant production that has enough knowledge to share it.” They also enable our experts, who participate as members in the creation and defense of doctoral dissertations the opportunity for their own development as mentors, giving them access to data of their interest, and the opportunity to participate in the publication of results in a scientific journal. “All of these help them get new ideas for our research,” believes Dr. Karagić.