Once again, FAO is providing assistance to civil society organizations as they review the achievements of recent years and come up with recommendations for the future. Starting today in Łódź, Poland, a two-day civil society consultation takes place back-to-back with the Regional Conference for Europe, the Organization’s highest governing body for the Europe and Central Asia region.

Digital agriculture has great potential to foster the transformation of agrifood systems and  promote rural development, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), emphasized today at the high-level international conference Vision for the future: transition to digital agriculture, held in Azerbaijan.

FAO offered an online course on lumpy skin disease with more than 400 veterinarians participating. The four-week training in the Russian language started on 7 April through the Virtual Learning Centre (VLC). FAO is supporting the fight against this cattle disease globally and specifically in Europe and Central Asia by training as many veterinarians as possible.

Kazakhstan joins the FAO initiative on improving pesticide lifecycle management and elimination of persistent organic pollutants, implemented in Central Asia and Turkey. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The presence of obsolete and unusable pesticides and their chemical identification is one of the acute problems in Kazakhstan’s agriculture.

The qualified majority of the land owners in the village of Logovardi, located in Pelagonija, a region in the south-west of North Macedonia, adopted a plan on the re-allotment of agricultural land parcels in the Logovardi land consolidation project area.

A new five-year cooperation agreement was signed today by FAO and the Republic of North Macedonia, with both parties committing to continue the joint efforts in achieving a more competitive and resilient rural economy fostering job creation and inclusive, green growth.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensuring inclusive growth requires partnerships and collaborations with everyone concerned. The expertise and experience of the private sector is also key to meet the challenges of our times and ensure sustainable agrifood systems.

FAO and Agrarco LLC signed a cooperation agreement to coordinate activities under the project “Catalyzing the efficiency and sustainability of Azerbaijan’s hazelnut sector.” Within the framework of the cooperation, activities are planned to apply good practices in using sustainable bioenergy along the hazelnut value chain, examine causes of aflatoxin contamination during production and processing, and increase the capacity of farmers in this area.

The basis of agricultural production is land, and farmers need a properly functioning land market in order to make the most out of this precious asset. To this end, FAO convened Central Asian representatives of all related spheres in Bishkek to discuss the potentials of developing their national agricultural land markets.

While food security is a renewed source of concern at the global level, the greening of agrifood systems remains a top priority to limit its impacts on climate change and natural resources. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and