Olga Babayeva, a 52-year-old farmer from Samukh region, in northwestern Azerbaijan, is a well-recognized businesswoman...
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
Agriculture has a central place in the culture of mountainous Tajikistan. In fact, more than 60 percent of Tajik people work in agriculture, cultivating the country’s arable land that extends over 850 thousand hectares.
The Nurobod district, located in the Rasht valley, boasts beautiful landscapes with high agricultural biodiversity that contributes to its resilient ecosystems. Yet, like in other rural areas, the life here has its beauties and hardships alike.
FAO helped to enhance diversification and competitiveness of Albanian smallholders through the promotion of agritourism and digitalization in the agrifood sector. The one-year project, which ended recently, targeted three pilot areas in the country (Belsh, Melesi Madhe, and Korca).
For real impact, the project combined training and knowledge sharing leading to the development of a position paper on agritourism and a vision for the digital transformation of agriculture.
Belarus and Ukraine have high forest covers that provide a fundamental contribution to the wellbeing of rural populations and the national economy.