Seeds have been the symbol of life and renewal, and with good reason: As the...
Regional Initiatives
As economic reforms in the 1990s shifted land ownership into the hands of private smallholders, family farmers became the predominant source of agricultural production in the region. To address the absence of well-developed institutional support, FAO is implementing a Regional Initiative on Empowering Smallholders and Family Farms for Improved Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction.
While international trade policy is usually implemented at the border, adherence to food safety and quality standards concerns national food safety systems as well as food safety and quality control at the enterprise level. This means that a supportive policy environment for modern agrifood trade encompasses not only border policies, but also policies and institutions at the national and enterprise level.
The impact of climate change can already be felt on food production systems in the region, posing considerable challenges for agricultural production and food security. FAO is helping countries to manage their natural resources sustainably, while also coping with climate change and reducing the risk of disasters affecting agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Stories from the field
Reducing the risk of incursions and improving preparation for the rapid detection and control of African swine fever in the Balkan countries is the main topic of the four-day FAO workshop finishing today in Belgrade.
African swine fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease that kills up to 100 percent of infected animals, both pigs and wild boars. It poses no risks to human health but has the potential to devastate rural livelihoods and jeopardize food security and trade in affected regions.
10 training courses on sustainable management of natural resources in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Ukraine to provide aid in achieving neutral level of land degradation
The problem of land degradation is crucial for Ukraine, as it affects 20 percent of the country’s arable land, or 6.5 million ha in total.
A number of positive changes – including improved rural policies, strengthened value chains, sustainable management of natural resources and environmentally friendly agricultural practices – are expected to help Georgia’s agricultural producers become more competitive while reducing the contributions of agricultural production to climate change.