Cooperation on scientific issues related to animal diseases is one path towards increased regional peace....
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
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and FAO, with funding from Luxembourg, have been working with the Serbian Government and the Serbian Union of Cooperatives to promote the development of cooperative organizations across the country’s agricultural sector.
In Serbia, farmers do not yet recognize cooperatives as beneficial for their businesses. Only a minority of farmers are members of agricultural cooperatives, and cooperative land accounts for only 17 percent of agricultural land in the country. Globally, though, cooperatives account for an estimated 50 percent of agricultural production.
Some 5 000 northern Montenegrin farmers still make the traditional dried beef Crnogorska Goveđa pršuta, which, along with the Montenegrin dried and smoked sheep meat Crnogorska Stelja, is poised to receive geographical indication (GI) status, an origin-based label that signals quality, authenticity and tradition.
This development is the result of work by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with funding from Luxembourg, to upgrade food safety and quality standards in Montenegro’s meat sector.
A team of experts from the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority of Romania (NSVFSA) participated this week in the first workshop of a series of activities aimed at strengthening the national capacities of the Republic of Moldova in assessing risks related to food safety.
The five-day workshop is one product of a partnership between FAO and the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority of Romania.