International Conference on Development of Organic Agriculture in Central Asia

The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) is organizing an International Conference on development of organic agriculture in Central Asia during 22-24 August 2017.

The theoretical sessions of the Conference will be held in Tashkent on 22-23 August 2017 followed by the technical trip to Samarkand on 24 August 2017. The Conference will bring together leading scientists and experts working on organic agriculture from Europe, Turkey, Central Asia and other countries.

The centuries-old culture of traditional vegetable growing and gardening in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries is initially based on the principles of biological farming and use of natural fertilizers that allows growing ecologically clean vegetables and fruits with unique taste and nutritional value. This culture provides a huge potential for development of organic production in the region.

The objectives of the Conference are to:

• exchange experiences and discuss local practices and modern technologies to further cooperation among Central Asian countries on development of organic agriculture and compile them in a proceeding;
• discuss the constraints and needs for the institutional and legal framework for organic production;
• raise awareness on organic agriculture and discuss its impact on rural development and trade of Central Asian countries;
• overview the trends and rising opportunities in organic markets at regional and worldwide levels.

Following topics are expected to be presented and discussed:

• Organic agriculture principles and practices, policies, sustainability;
• Legislation, standards and conformity assessment;
• Plant production: breeding, propagation material, varieties, management techniques, harvest and post-harvest, quality, processing;
• Animal production: breeding, nutrition, management techniques, processing;
• Farm management, rural development, agro-ecotourism, social innovation, agricultural and natural landscapes;
• Marketing, consumer preferences, health implications; and
• Research, education, vocational training and consultancy.

The participants will include the Government officials representing the Ministries of Agriculture, Economy, Trade and Standardization, Environment Protection and institutions responsible for organic production system as well as the lead researchers on environment, food safety, sanitary, the representatives of exporters, importers, farmers associations, agro-industry and certification bodies.

By the end of the Conference, participants will be better able to:

• assess the challenges and opportunities that the organic production poses for the agricultural sector in their country and in the World;
• assess the needs for developing and updating institutional and legal frameworks and adjusting agricultural policy for establishing an internationally recognized organic guarantee system, including legislation, production standards, conformity assessment procedures and eventual recognition by selected export countries.
• understand and apply the rules for organic production and modern technologies, and
• design and implement plans to develop organic agriculture at local, national or regional levels.

Abstract submission

Participants willing to make oral or poster presentations on any of the above-mentioned topic are expected to send abstracts prepared according to the guidelines given below. The deadline for abstract submission is 30 June, 2017. Abstracts submitted by this date will be considered for evaluation. Authors will be notified of provisional acceptance of abstracts by 15 July, 2017 and for the form of presentation as oral or poster presentation.

• All abstracts must be sent to the e-mail [email protected] with a copy to [email protected].
• The official languages are English and Russian so only abstracts written in English or Russian will be accepted for review.
• Abstracts should not exceed 300 words, be written in Times New Roman 12 font and single space.
• The title should be in capital and in bold; followed by 1.5 spacing. 
• Authors should be written with their affiliation numbered as superscript. The presenting author should be underlined.
• Five key words should be written in alphabetic order as italic.
• Abstracts should be based on original work. Should give full information on the objective and topic in case of review and on objective, materials and methods and major results obtained in case of research work.
• Abstracts must NOT contain tables, pictures or diagrams.
• All abbreviations must be spelled out on first use.
• Abstracts should be thoroughly checked for spelling and grammar.

Presentation Type

During submission, please specify if you wish to make an oral or poster presentation. Please note that in case of high number of oral presentation submissions received or based upon the topic and content of the abstract, the Scientific Committee reserves the right to offer poster presentations for some of the abstracts.

Manuscripts

• All presenters (oral and poster) are expected to submit a manuscript for publication by 15 August 2017.

• The manuscripts of the presented abstracts should be prepared according to the guidelines sent with the acceptance notice of the abstract. The guidelines will be posted on the website.
• The total number of pages should not exceed 8 pages written in Times New Roman 12 font.

Language

The working languages of the workshop will be Russian and English with a simultaneous interpretation.

On behalf of the organizers, we are very happy to invite you to the International Conference to share your experience and be a part of the network. If you have any further questions concerning the Conference, please contact with the following addresses:

Organizing Committee [email protected]

FAO Representative in Uzbekistan [email protected] Tel: +99871 1501885