Ukraine, due to its geographical closeness to the European Union and its recently signed Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement, has committed to aligning its food safety and quality systems with EU standards. The needed changes in legal requirements and in Ukraine’s official food safety control system bring with them...

Social protection plays a crucial role in accelerating progress in the fight against hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty, with the potential to transform the lives of rural women and men by improving their well-being and livelihoods. Still, evidence shows that social protection is lacking for the majority of the food insecure...

The Smallholder Farmers’ Dataportrait of the ESA Small Family Farms Team is a comprehensive, systematic and standardized data set on the profile of smallholder farmers, bringing out the characteristics of family farms across the world. It is designed in such a way that differences between countries and regions can be...

Twenty-five years after the introduction of the quota system, significant challenges confront women in Norway’s fisheries. Norway is considered to be one of the largest fishery nations in Europe. Despite this, there are few professional women fishers in the country. According to statistical data released in 2017 by the Norwegian Directorate...

Meeting for the second time, Kyrgyz stakeholders gathered this week in Bishkek to advance the country’s national criteria and indicator set for sustainable forest monitoring. The exercise, carried out under a joint project of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and FAO, is especially important today; Kyrgyzstan is currently...

This capacity building project has been accepted for funding by the United Nations Development Account (UNDA), under the 10th tranche. The timeframe of the project is 2016-2019. The objective of this project is to strengthen the national capacity of five target countries (Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) to develop national...

This book presents selected genetic resources and their contribution to sustainable agricultural practices and food systems, yet note that many more could not be covered. Pieces of the story of Turkey’s food and agriculture and environmental heritage can be found in many sources, for instance, in the national periodic country...

The purpose of this study is to explore whether and how products from agroecological production systems are being valued in markets. The study is based on a meta-analysis of 12 case studies (Benin, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda), mainly from...

Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia need better engagement in global sustainable livestock processes when developing national policies for their livestock production sectors. Solving this problem is one aim of meetings begun today in Uman, Ukraine, on the continued development of a Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock, gathering myriad stakeholders...

A better use of crop genetic diversity is recognized as an essential leverage for agroecology, as it promotes various ecosystem services, in a context of increasing environmental stochasticity caused by global change. Increasing within field diversity through the use of cultivar mixtures is a timely option, as testified by past...

This report analyses the land markets’ functioning in the Western Balkans and small farm households’ access to land. For that purpose, survey questionnaires, focus groups, and desk research for each of the targeted Western Balkan countries/territories (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo∗, Montenegro and Serbia), were used. Based on...

Priorities highlighted in the agreement are closely aligned with the country’s own priorities in the National Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development 2014–2020, aiming to support progressive alignment of the country’s agriculture and rural development with European Union accession requirements and the Sustainable Development Goals,” Rakhmanin said. “The agreement matches...

This book was prepared under the framework of TCP/UZB/3501: Institutional capacity building to develop organic agriculture and to promote good agriculture practices in Uzbekistan to provide guidance to the stakeholders. This book brings together the status of organic agriculture in Uzbekistan including, market, legal standards, methods, experiences and useful methods...

Provides an overview of Agroecology in Europe and central Asia countries, also how agroecology can support the SDGs achievement and how countries in the region can implement agroecology at national level.

SIMRA has just released its third brochure collecting examples of social innovation in marginalised rural areas in the Balkan peninsula. The focus of the SIMRA project is on the European Union and the Mediterranean area, including the Balkan Peninsula in South-East Europe which includes both countries which are Member States of...

The benefits of cooperation and opportunities for small- and medium-sized dairy enterprises topped the agenda of the Second Caucasus Dairy Congress held in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, today. The event, supported by the European Union and Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture, was the latest effort by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development...

FAO’s Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Europe and Central Asia 2018 (Regional SOFI 2018 in ECA) describes the current situation vis-à-vis SDG 2 in countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. It focuses in particular on the countries’ status in relation to SDG Target 2.1...

Senior staff members of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Agriculture and its Statistics Agency are in Georgia now to meet with representatives of the National Statistics Office and the Ministry of Agriculture in Georgia. They are on a five-day study tour, sharing experiences on agriculture reforms, learning about implementation of agricultural policies,...

n the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, aquaculture is an active and growing sector which plays a major role in achieving food security, employment and economic development while reducing the dependence on often overexploited wild stocks. According to some national aquaculture strategies, the production in Mediterranean and Black Sea riparian...

Serbia has a dynamic horticulture industry. But with increased competition from the European Union, Serbian producers need to find ways to get an edge in the market, both at home and abroad. Recently the country’s renowned Oblačinka from Oblačina sour cherry and Arilje raspberry received geographical indication (GI) status in line...