In 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) launched the global Digital Villages Initiative to promote digital innovations to rural communities. Now the initiative is being scaled up in Europe and Central Asia, aiming to improve livelihoods, wellbeing, and social cohesion in this region.

Morning breaks in the village Durmon, a quiet hamlet in the Bukhara region of southern Uzbekistan. There is no bustle of a big city. The only sounds are of chirping of birds and the humming of peaceful nature.

By definition, pesticides are a poison. These chemicals denigrate and pollute the soil, water, air, plants, and other insects and organisms essential to biodiversity of ecosystems; leave residues in foods; and can be harmful to human health.

Biopesticides offer a better, more sustainable solution for Central Asian farmers.

Over 40 FAO Members and other partners gathered at an informal meeting to discuss current issues of food and agriculture in times of multiple crisis

Unique plant genetic resources have been transported over a thousand kilometres from Kharkiv to the west of Ukraine.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) with the financial support from Switzerland’s of USD 421 000, will provide agriculture livelihood emergency relief and shelter assistance to 11 communities impacted by the recent floods. Assistance will focus on the most affected vulnerable people who will receive aid to recover from the impact of the floods and help increase their resilience to future extreme weather shocks.

In February, when the streets of Sachkhere, Georgia are covered with snow and temperatures reach -2 degrees Celsius outside, 39-year-old Shorena Jambazishvili collects her plastic gloves, new syringes, some medicines and a smartphone and makes her way to the farm.

This report is helpful to inform national governments and food system stakeholders in Europe and Central Asia, finding common priority issues and framing regional-level discussions. It can be an essential reading, as part of the countries’ preparations for the first  UN Food Systems Stocktake Moment, next 24-26 July 2023.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), key national stakeholders and partner organizations of the three-year project “Reduction of Food Loss and Waste in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye” have come together to conclude the project, take stock of its milestones, and set a vision for more sustainable and resilient national food systems in line with the countries’ commitment to achieve SDG 12.3.

The Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP), a collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Türkiye, includes a spectrum of activities aimed at strengthening the food and agriculture sector in Central Asia. FAO, with funding from Türkiye, is now midway through the implementation of a three-year project to improve food safety systems in the region to deliver safe, reliable and nutritious food from farm to table.