In Europe and Central Asia, and particularly in countries not part of the European Union, food loss and waste have major implications on food nutrition and security through inefficiencies in the food value chains. FAO is now working with four southeastern European countries to develop strategies for food loss and...

For nearly as long as the civil war in Syria has been ongoing, 36-year-old Sena Hamad has been living in a refugee camp with her three daughters and husband on the outskirts of the city of Osmaniye in southern Turkey. Today, she is among the first group of 25 trainees to...

Last March in New York the sixty-second Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) took place with a priority focus on ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls’. The Commission recognized in its conclusions «the crucial contributions of rural women to local and...

A programme that helps rural women in Kyrgyzstan gain access to new economic opportunities has received significant financial support from the Swedish government. The USD 5 million contribution from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) will help expand the Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural...

Today, a number actors in Montenegro’s fruit and vegetable value chains – including producers, retailers, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – came together at a workshop in Podgorica, Montenegro, to discuss the benefits of agricultural cooperatives. The workshop was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the...

Agriculture is one of the key sectors defining the sustainable development of Armenia. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia, which is responsible for implementing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to food and agriculture, identifies targets, aligns policy planning documents and, together with the Statistical...

Italian MEP Paolo De Castro and Copa-Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen sit down for an important exchange of views on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy and the EU budget.

With a signing ceremony and press conference in Yerevan, FAO launched a new project to make substantial improvements to dairy operations in the Republic of Armenia. Also, FAO introduced a unique platform for uniting donors working to improve the country’s agriculture sector. The overall goal of the dairy project in Armenia is...

Supporting the Kyrgyzstan government’s pursuit to unleash the country’s export potential, FAO is conducting a one-day workshop today in Bishkek to discuss with participants how to diversify agrifood exports and to enter the European and Chinese agricultural markets. The broad range of participants could have a large positive effect on Kyrgyz exports. The...

Many countries in the region have seen positive changes in agricultural development in recent years associated with countries’ reforms during the transition period after the Soviet Union collapse, as well as due to support from international organizations. This report overviews eighteen countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report...

Held in Konya, Turkey, between 9 and 12 October, in cooperation with Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, FAO’s Farmer Field School Curriculum Development Workshop hosted wide-ranging discussions on how best to further adopt the Farmer Field School method in the region. The workshop was organized within the context of...

Breeding livestock, producing crops and household goods, fetching water and firewood, housework, cooking for family, looking after children, caring for the elderly and sick members of the family – this is the short list of rural women’s obligations in Georgia. However, the contribution of women to agricultural production remains invisible and...

The emerging food sovereignty paradigm offers a viable alternative for food, farming and well−being in terraced landscapes and the territories they are embedded in. This paper first defines ‘food sovereignty’ and briefly describes the origins and history of this policy framework for food and agriculture. The second part of this...

The three-year project “Rural Development through Integrated Forest and Water Resource Management in Southeast Europe (LEIWW)” is jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Standing Working Group for Regional Rural Development (SWG RRD). The project aims to improve the regional capacities for sustainable management of...

Geographical indication (GI) schemes can play a special role in promoting sustainable rural development, improving farm income and opening new export potential. Natural factors such as soil, climate and plant varieties play a major role in producing a unique product. Usually, GIs comprise knowledge and skills passed on from generation...

Produced in the remote mountainous region of Tusheti, Tushuri guda takes its name from the sheepskin sack in which the raw-milk cheese is traditionally ripened. The skin is turned inside out, so the wool is in direct contact with the ripening cheese. Archaeological evidence suggests that sheep cheese made in a similar...

Agricultural development in Kyrgyzstan is being hampered by farmers’ lack of access to quality seeds, finance and market information, according to a new FAO assessment of value chains and the agribusiness environment. Additional factors slowing the development include scattered production and the prevalence of production cooperatives over service ones, said the...

FAO is committed to reducing gender inequalities through its interventions, and this gender assessment has been produced as part of its broader efforts to generate evidence and knowledge in compliance with its Policy on Gender Equality. This assessment highlights the challenges, gaps and practices in the area of gender and...

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...