At first glance, vocational and technical education in agriculture can be perceived as an obvious matter. It might be summarised as the educational process that include "the study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupations in agriculture" (Jones, 2013).  Various occupations and related skill sets have been defined that can operate under agricultural value chains. However, it is a more complex exercise when it comes to identify these occupations economically in relation to labour market demands, to determine the occupational standards to finally decide who can practice these occupations and how how these individuals will be trained.

In the face of macro problems such as environmental concerns, food security, climate crisis and feeding the world population, what will determine the course in the coming years is the question of what competencies and skill sets the practitioners of agricultural activities or farmers should be equipped with. The overwhelming gravity and urgency of problems mentioned above make it difficult for all professional groups operating in agricultural systems to transfer the necessary scientific knowledge into practice swiftly and effectively.

The necessity of transferring scientific knowledge in a research-intensive field such as agriculture into practice and competing against time in this regard also concerns curriculum development studies related to agricultural training since the curricula need to be constantly reviewed and updated in terms of objectives, content, teaching-learning processes and assessment.

This study is situated in such a context. In the absence of VET programmes to train qualified and skilled workforce in the existing agriculture systems, a model for the development of a vocational and technical training curriculum in agriculture is necessary. As a preliminary step, the views of various stakeholders in agriculture were identified to provide a comprehensive dimension of needs assessment. The purpose of this study is to identify the views of the primary stakeholders of agriculture on agricultural vocational education and training in order to establish a wider model on which the curricula that are likely to be used in formal or non-formal education will be based. The findings of this study will be used as a dimension of needs assesment process to inform a model to develop VET curricula in agriculture. To this end, the answer to the following research question was sought:

How do the stakeholders define (i)needs, (ii)priorities, (iii)preferences and (iv)recommendations for the development of VET curricula in agriculture for northern part of Cyprus?

This study employs a qualitative methodology to explore the views of various stakeholders in agri-food sector for a VET curriculum development model in agriculture for northern part of Cyprus. In order to explore the needs, priorities, preferences, and recommendations identified by representatives from various stakeholder groups, a semi-structured Interview Form developed by the researcher was employed as data collection tool. The form included close-ended and open-ended questions and was developed following a four-phase process. The first phase comprised of literature review and forming of concept maps as well as the initial pool of questions on the assessment of needs for a VET curriculum in agriculture. Secondly, the questions were discussed with two different curriculum development experts and a set of 16 questions were pre-selected to be included in the interview forms. The questions were checked for grammatical correctness and semantic clarity by a Turkish linguist and were included in the final interview forms. Three participants among the study group were invited to initial interviews as a pilot exercise to test the efficacy of the Interview Forms. The feedback obtained from the pilot interviews were reflected to the final version of the Interview Form. Sample triangulation was aimed in order to obtain different points of view in depth. The study group consists of a total of 26 participants from various stakeholder groups that are actively involved in their area of expertise/vocation. These include a representative from VET authorities of Ministry of Education (n=1), representatives from Ministry of Agriculture (n=4), representatives from various farmer NGOs (n=4), academics from universities that deliver agricultural training (n=4), representatives from Chambers of Trade, Industry, Shopkeepers and Artisans (n=3), practicing farmers from different sectors (n=8) and curriculum development experts (n=2). The interviews are completed and lasted for an average of 70 minutes for each interview. Consistent with the objectives of the study a qualitative data analysis is targeted. Content analysis will be conducted once transcription and the coding process of the data set is completed.

The data analysis of the study is not yet concluded. The transcriptions of the interviews are ongoing. Certain themes were prominent and recurring during the interviews related with digitalisation and digital literacy in agriculture, climate crisis in relation to agricultural practices and capitalisation of niche agricultural products for northern part of Cyprus (prickly pear) and markets.

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