FAO’s Virtual Learning Center for Europe and Central Asia recently developed and delivered a new virtual learning tutored course on improving ruminant biosecurity. This capacity building tool aims to equip field veterinarians and industry professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to assess and improve biosecurity on all sorts of ruminant farms. The course was developed in collaboration with experts from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) with support from Lleida University (UdL) and LleidaVet in Spain.

Agritourism is a great example of a systems approach that brings together many interrelated sectors: agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, marketing, food, culture and local economies. Addressing these as a whole allows countries to see key blockages to change as well as emerging opportunities for growth. In 2022, to support the Albanian government in this quest, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean (SFS-MED) project, provided trainings, facilitated dialogues between national and local representatives and lent expertise to stakeholders from various sectors to strengthen agritourism and enhance rural livelihoods.

An ongoing initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is backing Montenegro’s pursuit to improve forest management planning and monitoring in the country’s private forests. In the framework of the FAO project, Montenegro’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management welcomed representatives of Slovenia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, the Forest Service, and the Forestry Institute from 17 to 19 June 2024 in Montenegro, for a second time to discuss new approaches to forest management planning and monitoring in private forests.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) office in Bishkek is now lead by Oleg Guchgeldiyev, as he took up his duties today as FAO Representative in Kyrgyzstan. Oleg Guchgeldiyev, a professional with broad experience in climate change, environmental strategic planning and biodiversity conservation, joined FAO in 2016 as regional coordinator for development of a large-scale project for Central Asian countries and Türkiye on sustainable land management. Since 2018, he has been serving as FAO Representative in Tajikistan.

Every year on 7 June, World Food Safety Day emphasizes the collective, societal nature of food safety work. The 2024 theme calls for all actors along the food value chain to prepare for emerging threats. On Tuesday, a webinar brought together experts of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to inform and inspire food safety professionals from across Europe and Central Asia to better manage food safety risks – both those known and those emergent. The virtual event contributed to the understanding of how to prevent future food safety incidents and crises, how to recognize and better prepare for them, and was an opportunity learn from actual examples from the region.

In 2022, the Republic of Moldova faced an extreme drought that led to 50 - 60 percent losses in some of their crops. With this loss of income and increased input prices, families with animals couldn’t buy the necessary animal feed. In response, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) distributed cattle fodder to 2 638 families across five districts in 2023. Each family received between 350 and 375 kg of fodder, which was vital in addressing existing feed shortages.

For both the Ariljska malina and Oblačinka from Oblačina sour cherry, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) worked closely with Serbia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Intellectual Property Office to assist Serbian producers and processors in developing production specifications, registering and certifying the fruits as GIs (geographical indication label).

A three-day seminar on One Health, co-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), concluded on 13 June in Vienna. The meeting, hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Health and held at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, brought together representatives from 38 government agencies across Europe and Central Asia, including ministries of health, agriculture, and environment as well as regional and subregional organizations, institutions, collaborating centres, reference laboratories, relevant actors. 

FAO and the Regional Centre for Forestry and Rural Development (REFORD) in North Macedonia hosted the annual international meeting of the Forest Invasive Species Network for Europe and Central Asia (REUFIS) from 4 to 6 June 2024 in Skopje, North Macedonia. The primary focus of this year’s meeting was the role of invasive species in urban forest planning. During this three-day event, participants explored the relationship between invasive species and urban forestry.

Given the importance of Ukraine to global food production, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) continues to support the country in its efforts to maintain food security, said FAO Regional Programme Leader for Europe and Central Asia Raimund Jehle at the Ukraine Recovery Conference yesterday in Berlin. FAO’s 2024 Emergency Response Plan is carried out jointly with the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and national and international partners, including the European Union.

Disease outbreaks severely constrain aquaculture development, and the processes for controlling diseases and managing health are different in aquaculture than in the terrestrial livestock sector, primarily due to the fluid environment. For this reason, Kyrgyzstan, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has begun to develop a national action plan for the control of fish diseases. The project supports fish farms through the implementation of best practices in fish health management, biosafety on fish farms and the planning of production activities. This can help improve product quality and increase production volumes.

Agriculture ministers from the five Central Asian countries came together at a virtual meeting today to discuss and share examples of sustainable locust management. Facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the meeting was the eighth annual gathering of the ministers, with Kazakhstan serving as this year’s host. The goal of the meeting was to strengthen cross-border and long-term regional cooperation and to share experience, knowledge and lessons learned from locust campaigns. The meeting also covered advanced approaches to improving country capacities and supporting a preventive approach for better locust management and the reduction of risks related to locust outbreaks.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) join forces each year to raise awareness about these issues and inspire action across all sectors of the food chain, from farm to fork. This year’s theme, “Food safety: prepare for the unexpected”, explores the ways in which we all can prepare for unexpected food safety incidents, from minor events to major international crises. To raise awareness on proper food safety and management, a workshop was held in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on World Food Safety Day to help consumers, producers and officials focus on an issue often taken for granted.

Facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the fifteenth international LANDNET workshop, starting today in Middelburg in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is bringing together about 100 experts from roughly 30 countries to share their experiences on land consolidation. Specifically, the experts will discuss how multipurpose land consolidation can contribute to larger goals such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, nature restoration, and improved biodiversity and environmental conditions.

According to a recent report published by the Climate Policy Initiative, a mere 4 percent of global climate finance reached agrifood systems between 2019 and 2020. This falls drastically short of what's needed and despite the crucial role of agrifood systems in climate change mitigation and adaptation. To achieve the ambitious goals outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement to effectively transform agrifood systems for climate action, experts estimate that mobilizing about USD 680 billion annually until 2030 is necessary. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working to help address the financing gap through the multi-stakeholder Food and Agriculture for Sustainable Transformation Partnership (FAST Partnership). 

As part of an ongoing pesticide management and disposal project from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Central Asia and Türkiye, two international events were held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. To discuss the latest trends and explore the ways digital technologies can ameliorate the management of pests and pesticides in Central Asia, a workshop on emerging green technologies for pest and pesticide management on 15 April was conducted.

In Ukraine, access to quality grain production estimates has worsened due to the ongoing war. In response, a three-day technical meeting at FAO on 11-13 March examined if remote-sensing technologies could help complement and strengthen its national data-gathering capacity. The meeting allowed to craft a concrete plan, set deadlines, and pinpoint winter cereals, maize, and sunflower seed as key focus for further joint work. 

African swine fever (ASF) is a very serious animal disease that may kill up to 100 percent of infected animals, both domestic pigs and wild boar of all breeds and ages and for which, currently, there is no commercially available vaccine or treatment. It poses significant economic, livelihood and biodiversity threats to the region's pig sector and wild populations. As part of its work to combat African swine fever in the region, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is building capacity to improve ASF management by teaching outbreak investigation and basic epidemiology to participants from Western Balkans in a four-day workshop in Sarajevo from 21 to 24 May.

Hosted by the Republic of Moldova, the Thirty-fourth Session of the Regional Conference for Europe, held 14–17 May, brought together over 300 participants – representing all 53 Member Countries from the region and the European Union as a Member Organization, as well as United Nations agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental sectors, research and academia, the private sector and civil society. The final report of the conference, adopted on 17 May, guides FAO and all relevant actors in advancing the transformation of the region’s food systems towards a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future. Here are some of the highlights.

Through its Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) initiative in Europe and Central Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) works to recognize and sustain traditional agricultural systems with rural cultures and economies and to promote and  integrate them into broader food systems value chains. Science and innovation play important roles in underpinning the strength and viability of GIAHS.