Lessons learned: sweet cherries in Uzbekistan and the FAO Special Agricultural Products programme
The Global Action on Green Development of the Special Agricultural Products: “One Country One Priority Product” (OCOP) in Europe and Central Asia launched at a regional event in Tashkent hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan.
The forum brought together national and foreign experts from Albania, Armenia, China, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Türkiye to exchange information and good practices, identify major issues, and challenges and agree on key actions to encourage other countries to benefit from the experiences and lessons learned in Uzbekistan, and implement the programme in their countries.
FAO launched the five-year Global Action on Green Development of the Special Agricultural Products: “One Country One Priority Product” programme in September 2021 to address the current and recurring challenges of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition as well as to contribute to the development of smallholders and family farms, amongst other strategic objectives. The OCOP programme identifies Special Agricultural Products (SAPs) for each country that can be promoted in a sustainable value chain.
Special Agricultural Products are those crops or goods with unique qualities and special characteristics associated with agroecological regions, farming practices and cultural heritages that have been under-utilized. Under the OCOP programme these Special Agricultural Products receive support to improve the value chains and production practices, reduce food loss and waste; lessen impact on the environment is and enhance farmer’s livelihoods. These special products play a significant role in achieving food security and nutrition and have the potential to be promoted in local, regional, and international markets. At the global implementation of the programme in November 2022, the sweet cherry in Uzbekistan was selected as a demonstrative case for Europe and Central Asia.
The Ministry of Agriculture strongly supported the implementation of OCOP in Uzbekistan where up to 180 thousand tonnes of SAP sweet cherries are produced annually. The government has identified further steps to promote green technologies for sustainable development of the sweet cherry value chain. FAO is implementing a project on innovative approaches for better plant production, using sustainable and inclusive methods, in Uzbekistan. Agroecological conditions are favourable for growing sweet cherries with minimal use of chemicals. In addition, sweet cherries enable diversified and sustainable farming systems, including agroforestry and pastoralism.
The workshop included a visit to sweet cherry orchards and to the national bazaar, providing participants with the opportunity to get acquainted with cherry production, assess the capabilities of enterprises, talk with small farmers, and discuss the enhancement of market opportunities. With the benefit of the knowledge exchange and lessons learned from the experience of Uzbekistan, the workshop concluded with recommendation on how to facilitate successful implementation of the OCOP programme in other potentially suitable countries in the region.
