With the main aim to improve the animal health and production practices of smallholders and...
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, Family Farms and Youth 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, preserving biodiversity, while also coping with climate change and reducing the risk of disasters affecting agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Stories from the field
FAO helped revitalize the urban-rural connection in Tajikistan, with a view to develop more efficient food systems that benefits residents of both areas.
Considering that well-functioning urban-rural linkages are the key to advance the economy, nutrition, and sustainable development, the project improved interconnections between cities and rural areas through promoting sustainable food systems and closing gaps in agrifood value chains, strengthening associations, cooperatives, and communication networks, and developing agritourism and farmers’ city markets.
In Albania, FAO has used part of its efficiency savings to scale up the promotion of geographical indication products in light of the country’s European Union approximation process. Traditional and geographical indication products also have a high potential to advance rural development and rural livelihoods.
In this effort, FAO has partnered with the Polish Foundation Original to provide policy and knowledge support to the Ministry of Agriculture for enhanced national marketing standards by drawing on best international and European Union practices.
Today, the Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) agreed to support FAO projects in Azerbaijan and Tajikistan worth a total of USD 12.5 million.