In Europe and Central Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is expanding its online learning opportunities for animal health and production specialists. The platform is the regional Virtual Learning Center that has successfully conducted a series of virtual tutored trainings in 2023 and is set to roll out new courses that will respond to the dynamic needs of the region. 

A project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on mainstreaming adaptation into the planning process to reduce vulnerability to climate change aims to help local governments in the Republic of Moldova better respond to climate change and improve access to technology for agricultural producers.

The Digital Villages Initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is rolling out at full speed in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The Hack4DigitalVillages innovation challenge concluded at the end of November, awarding agricultural startups and innovators for creative technical solutions to agricultural challenges faced by rural Fergana. Simultaneously, two Memoranda of Understanding were officially signed to foster cooperation between Fergana valley (Uzbekistan) and Hisor valley (Tajikistan), solidifying the basis for knowledge exchange between rural communities of the two countries.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with Albania’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, have recently launched in Albania the FAO One Country, One Priority Product (OCOP) programme aimed at transforming agrifood systems. Through establishing sustainable chestnut value chains, the project in Albania will, foster economic growth, and enable community empowerment in the pilot region of northern Tropoja. 

With less than seven years left until the deadline, Europe and Central Asia are making progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 of Zero Hunger, including tackling food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, despite serious challenges experienced in the past few years. ...

Globally, we are faced with an urgent and unprecedented need to significantly reduce the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the livestock sector caused by overuse and misuse of antimicrobials. 

To  accelerate work to combat AMR in the Western Balkans, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened a technical consultation meeting on antimicrobial use and resistance in the Western Balkans, from 6 to 7 December, in a hybrid format. 

After two days of intense discussions and information sharing, the first Rural Youth Forum for Europe and Central Asia concluded on 30 November. Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),  it gathered representatives of 20 countries, farmers’ associations, youth groups in Budapest, Hungary – and online – to share ideas and build bridges for advancing the well-being, livelihoods and prosperity of rural youth. 

The Government of Montenegro and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have agreed in the joint priorities for the country’s food and agriculture sector for the coming years. According to this, they will work together to contribute to improved state and management of natural resources and to an innovative, competitive, gender-responsive, and inclusive economic development that is climate resilient and low-carbon, too.

Kazakhstan will be the first country to host a national dialogue supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The consultation will be convened by the UNCCD Focal Point for the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Committee for Land Resources Management in the Ministry of Agriculture from 6 to 7 December 2023 in Astana.

FAO’s Global Soil Partnership (GSP) collaborates with soil scientists in Uzbekistan to develop climate-smart soil management practices so that crops can continue to thrive even when grown in salt-affected terrains, all with the goal of stemming further salinization. Smallholders like Adyl are benefitting from such expertise, scaling-up sustainable agricultural techniques to restore natural habitats and tackle the impacts of drought.