FRUTART - RAISING YOUNG PEOPLE'S AWARENESS FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF FRUIT PRODUCTION AND THE BENEFITS OF FRUIT CONSUMPTION

Abstract

Fruit production requires high technological knowledge and it has an important role in creating wealth in different European agricultural regions. Although Portugal has a great potential for this activity, few young people apply for agricultural degrees, as they have a wide diversity of other higher education degrees to choose from. Therefore marketing is needed to highlight the importance of this activity. On the other hand, fruit consumption is a dietary habit that contributes to much better health and reduction of obesity, one of the worst health problems of the 21st century, affecting more than 50% of the adult population in Europe. With the aim of promoting fruit production activity among young people, encouraging fruit consumption, and contributing to fruit value, the FrutArt competition was launched. The FrutArt competition, organized by the School of Agriculture of Castelo Branco, began with production of four different life-size cold-porcelain fruits - pears, apples, peaches, and cherries. Fruit were designed by the School of Applied Arts of Castelo Branco. The white cold-porcelain fruits were distributed to students of 29 schools of the Beira Interior region, Portugal, who decorated them. The competition took place simultaneously with a national scientific meeting on fruit production, so as to enhance the interaction among agriculture, education, and research. From a total of 2100 fruits produced, 1923 were distributed to students of the 9th form, as this is when students opt for the study area to continue their studies, and to students of the 10th, 11th and 12th forms of Arts. From the 1351 decorated fruits that were collected, 232 were elected by the different schools and exhibited in different places around the country. The four best fruits were chosen by the participants of the National Fruit Symposium and received a money prize.