FAO and Bashkortostan: common ground found

Mr Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, and Mr Ilshat Fazrakhmanov, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Bashkortostan, met on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Mr Oleg Kobiakov noted the strong ties between the FAO Moscow Office and Bashkir State University, which regularly provides its students with the opportunity to do in-person and distance internships at FAO bureau.

According to Mr Kobiakov, two key topics are on the agenda of cooperation between the FAO Moscow Office and Bashkortostan, i.e. the upcoming 47th Apimondia Congress and the preparatory work to nominate Bashkiria to attain the status of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). 

The 47th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress (International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations) will be held in the city of Ufa, the “honey capital of Russia”, in 2022. The head of the FAO Moscow Office emphasized that the Organization will provide the Republic and the city of Ufa with all possible information support for this event and ensure the participation of leading FAO experts.

The GIAHS Programme, initiated by FAO in 2002, has been part of its structure since 2015, and it combines picturesque landscapes created by nature and people that support agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems and valuable cultural heritage, while providing food and livelihoods for family farms. To date, FAO has recognized 62 sites as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems in 22 countries around the world. 

Mr Oleg Kobiakov said that as part of the work to identify promising Russian site of GIAHSat the symposium of beekeepers organized by FAO Moscow Office on the occasion of World Bee Day, he proposed to include the Bashkir wild-honey farming in this System as one of the oldest rural traditional industries in the country. Mr Fazrakhmanov confirmed that the initiative has a strong appeal for Bashkortostan and invited a FAO delegation to visit the Republic to further elaborate this issue.

According to Mr Fazrakhmanov, Bashkortostan is also famous for horse-breeding and the production of kumis, an art passed from one generation to another through traditional knowledge, which could as well be included in the Republic’s application to become a GIAHS site. 

Mr Kobiakov and Mr Fazrakhmanov also discussed the situation in global agricultural markets in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, including food prices surge documented in the FAO statistics. The minister noted that while Bashkortostan had been impacted by the pandemic-related restrictions and growing prices, steps were taken to change the situation and promote the Republic’s engagement in Russian and global markets.

In particular, the Ministry of Agriculture of Bashkortostan was working to increase exportof Bashkir products (the Republic has high potential of pig meat, poultry meat, lint, rapeseed), to establish an Ural—Povolzhye Food Centre, a distribution hub for wholesale trade among Russian regions, conduct genetic research and development in agriculture through the Bashkir State Agricultural University, promote investment projects (in the production of honey and soft-ripened cheese aiming to take the lead in Russia and Europe), as well as to introduce new technologies to food production (the Minister spoke on the production of vegetable meat analogue with protein and fibre acquired though the advanced refining of peas). 

Mr Kobiakov and Mr Fazrakhmanov also highlighted the Republic of Bashkortostan’s potential to produce products with a registered appellation of origin (AO). They also focused on the prospect of developing agro-tourism using the global experience accumulated by FAO.