Kazakhstan shows a great interest in rural development

During recent years, rural development has gained prominence in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The decree of the President on the “Concept of rural development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023-2027” gives another push towards the building capacity of stakeholders at the national, regional and local levels. To support this government initiative the Land Tenure and Rural Development team of the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed a customized training programme on rural development for Kazakhstan.

The training programme has eight thematic sessions, covering an overview of rural development, rural development policy and its implementation through integrated community development, gender, social inclusion, and the approach of Leave No One Behind, sustainable value chain development, rural investment, cooperatives, and extension services.

“Rural development is one of the paths for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals as it helps to reduce rural and urban inequalities and to combat poverty, which, as we know, is predominantly rural. However, rural development is not an easy task, as it requires a holistic view of rural territories and considerable coordination efforts from the policymakers to shape a truly integrated policy focusing on not only agriculture and other production sectors, but also targeting environment and natural resource management, employment, social security, education and more. At the same time, to have an impact, the policy should be combined with effective implementation mechanisms on the local level, and it is very encouraging to see that the programme attracts participants representing diverse interest groups and levels of governance,” mentioned Morten Hartvigsen, FAO Land Tenure Officer.

So far, FAO delivered three sessions in a virtual workshop.  The training was attended by more than 80 participants from a wide spectrum of different stakeholder groups, such as officials of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, state-owned organizations including the Economic Research Institute and Food Contract Corporation, local authorities from selected pilot sites of the project, smallholder farmers from different regions of the country, representatives of specialized associations of farmers and agricultural producers, as well as academia and agricultural cooperatives.

"Rural development is much more than just agricultural development," commented Kairat Nazhmidenov, Head of the FAO Liaison and Partnership Office in the Republic of Kazakhstan and an investment support officer. — It implies the development of the whole complex of relations between rural communities, the involvement and capacity building of all actors in agricultural production, following the UN principle of leaving no one behind”.

The training programme is delivered within the framework of the FAO project "Investment Support to Smallholder Agriculture for Food Value Chain Development in Kazakhstan" funded by the Hungarian government. The main goal of the project is to support small farmers, family farms and youth through inclusive rural development mechanisms. The training programme will conclude in summer 2023 and participants who will attend 75 per cent of sessions will receive a certificate.

16 February 2023, Astana