Rába-Danube-Váh EGTC

As a goal of the proposal, an economic assessment, a database, a unified and dynamic website and a unified training programme were developed in order to gather and integrate the actors, enterprises, organisations and potential employees in the herbal market of Eastern and Western Slovakia and Eastern Hungary. Furthermore, curriculum development and conferences, workshops and awareness-raising study trips were organised as well.

A research study was conducted, titled ‘Herbs supporting policies in the border region of Slovakia and Hungary’, as a tangible result of the proposal. The aim was to explore the network and representative associations of growing and selling herbs, to create economic efficiency analyses, to discover the regulatory environment, the policy and organisational framework and the regional strategies of growing herbs, the regulations of growing and harvesting, buying and trading herbs, the possibilities of using herbs in medicine (folk medicine, phyto-aromatherapy, food supplements), in the culinary art (food industry), in other industries (chemical industry, cosmetics, perfumery), and in agriculture (nutraceuticals for animals, pesticides, soil stimulants, compost accelerators). The RDV EGTC undertook the creation of one analysis out of the 4 in the proposal – ‘Survey and database’.

18 events were organised within the framework of the proposal, which included conferences and workshops to involve potential target groups. The topics included the possibilities and conditions of the herb economy, eco-potential of tourism, herbs as a cultural and natural heritage, its preservation and promotion, and closer cooperation between cross-border herbal attractions.