As farmers increasingly plant modern varieties of wheat, traditional wheat landraces are in decline. Yet the genetic diversity found in these hardy traditional varieties could be crucial for the future of wheat production. A new series of publications from FAO introduces wheat landraces in the Central Asia sub region, starting with...

Fruit and vegetables are a major source of income for rural households in mountainous Tajikistan – and essential for healthy diets. Fresh produce such as sweet cherries, onions and table grapes make up an important share of the country’s agricultural exports. The potential to supply domestic retail and export markets remains...

Although relatively new, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is attracting increasing interest and attention in various parts of the world including in Central Asia. FAO and other partners have a number of on-going and forthcoming projects which deal with different aspects of the CSA approach. Given the importance of conceiving and...

Although relatively new, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is attracting increasing interest and attention in various parts of the world including in Central Asia. FAO and other partners have a number of on-going and forthcoming projects which deal with different aspects of the CSA approach. Given the importance of conceiving and...

Tajikistan is one of the centers of wheat diversity in Central Asia. From the beginning of the 1870s, a series of expeditions were conducted in Central Asia by Russian scientists to collect wheat landraces. Since that time, many landraces and, more recently, commercial wheat cultivars have been collected and used...

The brochure provides an overview of sustainable land management and climate change Adaptation in Central Asia and how they relate to the partnership between ADB and ICARDA.

The food security of billions of people worldwide depends on how secure their tenure is over the land, forests and fisheries they own or manage. That’s why FAO is rolling out the internationally agreed “Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure” with a series of technical awareness-raising workshops across Europe...

In Central Asia, unsustainable land management has turned large areas of productive land into wastelands. “Not possible, no water, too hot…” has for a long time been the standard response from locals when asked why there has been so little effort to reverse natural resource degradation. But in recent years,...

At least nine countries in the region stand united on the need to restore limited soil resources and stop alarming soil degradation trends. The “Izmir Communique’” and a related draft five-year implementation plan for the Eurasia region were adopted at the Second Plenary Meeting of the Eurasian Soil Partnership earlier...

The four Central Asian countries mentioned are heavily agrarian societies and have a low income per capita, except for Turkmenistan due to its large oil and gas revenues. The region is characterised by mountainous terrain and dry areas. The climate is continental, with cold winters and dry, hot summers. There...

An ambitious five-year project on integrated natural resources management in drought-prone and salt-affected areas is on its way to take-off, thanks to US$ 11 million in financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The FAO project will assist Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan in tackling challenges related to desertification, land...

The training workshop will facilitate a greater understanding of the different processes of trade and economic integration affecting the agricultural sector in Central Asia. Given the different degrees of the countries’ involvement in global and regional trading schemes, lessons learned from reforming agriculture will be drawn upon. Apart from experiences...

Агробиоразнообразие – понятие, включающее все компоненты биоразнообразия, имеющие отношение к продовольствию и сельскому хозяйству, состоящий из многообразие животных, растений и микроорганизмов на генетическом, видовом и экосистемном уровне, без которых невозможно обеспечить устойчивость основных функций агроэкосистем, её структуры и процессов. Продовольственный суверенитет является одной из центральных проблем в системе национальной безопасности,...

A voluntary contribution of US$ 6 million from the Russian Federation will enable FAO to provide technical assistance to the governments of Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the area of food security, nutrition and sustainable agricultural development. Despite considerable economic growth and improvements in household welfare in recent years, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan...

USAID program for helping Tajik Family Farmers to manage the water scarcity 

The five independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan cover a vast territory in Central Asia, almost 4 million hectares, which is just a little smaller than the whole of Western Europe. Very different ecoregions are represented in this territory: grassland plains (steppes), riparian forests (tugai), boreal forests...

The five countries of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – became independent states in 1991-1992 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union (see Map 1). Immediately after assuming independence, the Central Asian countries embarked, together with the rest of the former Soviet Republics (the Commonwealth of...

In the high mountain valleys of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, gravity-flow irrigation systems support the production of grains, fodder, vegetables, herbs, and fruits as well as wood for construction purposes. A majority of the irrigation systems in the Alai and Pamir mountain ranges were constructed by communities of water users prior...

Genetic diversity provides the fundamental basis for the evolution of forest species and for their adaptation to change. Conserving forest genetic resources (FGR) is therefore vital as they constitute a unique and irreplaceable resource for the future. At its Eleventh Regular Session, the FAO Commission on genetic resources for food...

It is in the mandate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as stated in Article 1 of its constitution, “to collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate information related to nutrition, food and agriculture”. Within this framework, in 1993 FAO launched a programme known as AQUASTAT, its...