Helping to write a script for a farmer training video on vermiwash triggered my interest in trying it out myself, as I began to wonder if ideas from tropical India could work in temperate Belgium.

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On the final day of the 32nd Session of the Regional Conference for Europe, FAO Members from Europe and Central Asia reinforced their commitment to transform agri-food systems through innovation, digital technologies and sustainable practices, as well as create inclusive growth in rural areas, taking into account the impacts of the...

Sustainable pasture management in Kazakhstan, including the basics of desert pasture animal husbandry and forage production in dry conditions, the introduction of field school approaches for livestock farmers, and many other aspects were discussed during FAO’s recent virtual training. “Sustainable management ensures the long-term use of pastures and allows for the...

A wide range of actors were brought together by FAO’s virtual regional dialogue on scaling up the response of food and agriculture sectors to the COVID-19 crisis with the ultimate goal of protecting livelihoods and transforming food systems. As a baseline, the UN Agency presented its Regional Response Plan providing evidence-based solutions...

Almost one-third of people in Europe and Central Asia live in rural areas, and in many countries, farm structures are dominated by small family farms cultivating less than 5 ha each. Their resilience and strength are crucial not only for rural development, but also for providing nutritious produce from sustainable...

The aim of FAO project TCP/RER/3604 was to elaborate breeding goals and plans for breeding and breed development of Caucasian Brown Cattle in Armenia and Georgia and Carpathian Brown Cattle in Ukraine. As a first step, information was collected about the breeds themselves and the environments in which they are...

As a country with a significant agricultural sector dominated by smallholders, Albania has a strong interest in understanding their situation. A new FAO study on Albanian smallholders is a crucial step towards evidence-based decision-making for the benefit of some 300 000 small farms and the Albanian countryside.

The European MSc Agroecology is coordintated by a consortium consiting of FESIA, France and NMBU, Norway. For the two-year programme a double degree is delivered. The European MSc Agroecology is a two-year programme, professionally oriented, to study interactions among agricultural, food and environmental sciences in a socially oriented and action driven...

Based on the FAO’s latest forecast, world cereal production in 2020 is set at 2 790 million tonnes, which would surpass the record high reached in 2019 by as much as 3 percent (81.3 million tonnes) and which would be 5 percent above the five-year average from 2015–2019. The forecast...

The Vjosa is the second largest river basin (approximately 6 808 km2) in Albania and one of the longest transboundary rivers in the Balkan area. The Vjosa catchment is shared among many cities, such as Erseke, Permet, Gjirokaster, Tepelene, Mallakaster, Fier, and Vlore. Because the waterway has not been subjected...

Climate change threatens over 15 percent of Armenia’s higher plant species with extinction. Semi-desert and desert areas are projected to expand by 30 percent, accelerating desertification. More frequent summer droughts and water stress will reduce the growth rate of trees and increase susceptibility to pests and diseases; at the same...

Dinara Eshimbetova is a wife and mother of five who lives in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic. Her eldest son has just turned 20, while her youngest child is only 3 years old. The job market is very limited in rural Kyrgyzstan, so both Dinara and her husband work as...

Samira lives in a very remote village in Kyrgyzstan with her husband and four children. They grow vegetables in a small greenhouse to feed the family. In addition, Samira works at the bakery with 10 other women – they bake bread for the local school. This might sound like “a...

In recent years, residents of remote areas in south Kyrgyzstan have been facing a host of challenges and difficulties, including two interrelated major issues – migration and weather extremes. Through cooperation and with knowledge from FAO, they are managing to get back on track despite devastating mudslides. Despite the hot and...

FAO and the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry convened a meeting of high-level officials from Central Asia to establish a joint Food Loss and Waste Strategy Committee mandated to oversee the development and implementation of the regional food loss and waste reduction programme. The newly launched body will also support...

Every 15th person in Kyrgyzstan suffers from malnutrition, that is, the human diet contains insufficient amounts of nutrients or a person consumes excess amounts of food. Every 14th child under the age of five is overweight, and every 6th adult is obese. Around the world, issues of ensuring food security and...

Regulations to curb the indiscriminate and dangerous use of pesticides on seed and in fields must go hand in hand with other measures, such as promoting hedgerows that fulfil important ecological functions for birds and pollinators. Also, environmentally-friendly alternatives could be further investigated and promoted. Green, innovative technologies, such as...

FAO provided the framework for its civil society partners to gather virtually and discuss striking questions of food and agriculture in Europe and Central Asia. The Civil Society Consultation precedes the European Regional Conference and its main conclusions will enrich the Conference’s sessions. At the consultation, civil society representatives stressed the need to...

SALSA - Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Sustainable Food Security, is an EU-funded research project of the Horizon2020 program which run from April 2016 to March 2020 with the aim to provide a better understanding of the role of small farms and small food businesses in meeting the sustainable food and nutrition...