What pests and diseases threaten trees and plants, the primary school students from Trupale learned in theory and practice this weekend, say the organizers from the Center for Social Innovations NIIT. Their weekend, they add, started in the nature of Niška Banja, and ended at the foot of Suva planina.

What does it look like when a plant is attacked by a pest or disease and which of them exist – were the topics of the first day of the weekend in Niška Banja, which were prepared by lecturers for the students of the biological section of the Primary School “Prvi maj” from Trupale.

The students also learned which plant diseases are the most common and what are the most common parasites in the border region of Serbia and Bulgaria, according to the organizers.

At the presentations of botanists and entomologists in Niška Banja, they saw bark beetles, insects that are the biggest pests of coniferous forests, but also oyster beetles – they explain from NIIT.

They did not hide their impressions from the lessons in nature, so as some of the students say, the walkthrough nature additionally interested them and encouraged them to renew their theoretical knowledge from the previous day.

The most interesting thing for me was when we went to Vrelo in Gornji Dusnik, where the first in a series of mills in this village is located. Along the way, we saw various plants and animals that are actually parasites and damage to forests. Also, we saw different plant species that we heard about in previous activities, so it was not a waste to renew our knowledge – says student Neda Stanojević.

According to the NIIT, the young people took photos and recognized the pests and diseases of plants that will enter the database on the type of flora in the cross-border region of Serbia and Bulgaria.

In the previous weekends, the primary school students also learned about herbaceous plants, forests and endangered species in nature classes within the EU cross-border cooperation project, in which the partners are NIIT Center, YMDRAB from Botevgrad, as well as the Forest Institute from Sofia.

The project is co-funded by EU through the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria–Serbia Programme.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union through the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria-Serbia Programme, CCI No 2014TC16I5CB007. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of NIIT and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the Managing Authority of the Programme.