A delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Türkiye visited Spain from 9 to 13 February 2026 to learn about implementing flexibility measures under the European Union Food Hygiene Package. Spain and Türkiye, both Mediterranean countries, share some climatic conditions and agrifood production characteristics that make them a great fit as learning partners.

Agriculture continues to play a critical role in protecting Ukrainian communities from food insecurity, even as war-related shocks, declining incomes and limited access to inputs place growing pressure on rural livelihoods, according to new assessment released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The report on food security and agricultural livelihoods in Ukraine, based on interviews with more than 2 800 households across nine front-line oblasts, provides a detailed picture of how rural families are coping with the prolonged impacts of the war.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has appointed Aghasi Harutyunyan as FAO Representative in Tajikistan, effective 2 March 2026. As FAO Representative, he will lead the planning and delivery of FAO programmes and projects in Tajikistan, working closely with national counterparts and development partners to advance sustainable agrifood systems, strengthen rural livelihoods and enhance food security and nutrition objectives in the country.

For Radoje Marić and his family, fruit growing is both a livelihood and a longstanding tradition. As fourth-generation producers of fruit and certified raspberry seedlings, the Marić family cultivates orchards at 500–600 m above sea level, where generations before them learned to work the land. But in recent years, changing weather patterns have made production increasingly uncertain.

Ministers – including the Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu –, senior officials and private investors from across the European Union gathered in Chișinău on 5 March for the Agrifood Partnership Investment Forum, a high-level event organized by the Republic of Moldova with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The forum brought together over 200 participants, including also public- and private-sector representatives from European Union member states and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to strengthen investment in the country’s agrifood sector and advance its European Union accession process.

“Everyone in my family is involved in agriculture. It is the main pillar of our lives. We could do without many things, but not without food and water.” With these words, 19-year-old Đorđe Mićević describes both his upbringing and his future. A former student of the Dr. Đorđe Radić Agricultural and Chemical School in Kraljevo, Đorđe is part of a new generation of young people in Serbia who are learning how to adapt agriculture to climate change.

Sonya Kirgizova is well known in the mountain villages of Tojikobod in central-eastern Tajikistan. Her neighbours admire her greenhouse, her jars filled with pickled Anzur onions and cucumbers, and the buzzing hives behind her home. More than anything, though, they trust her. This trust is what made her a central figure in bringing women farmers into a project that is helping to protect Tajikistan’s rich agrobiodiversity.

The booklet Seeds of heritage: The journey of GIAHS in Europe and Central Asia, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), explores how traditional agricultural landscapes across the region are being recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) – and why they hold vital lessons for building more sustainable and resilient agrifood systems.

Locust species that produce large swarms and travel long distances can damage agricultural production if outbreaks are not contained through timely, well-coordinated action. As locust infestations continue to threaten crops, rangelands and rural livelihoods across the Caucasus and Central Asia, countries are strengthening their cooperation to improve early warning and support efficient and environmentally responsible control measures.

Albania has launched the Agrifood Systems Dialogue Platform to guide policy reform and investment in the country’s agrifood sector through evidence-based dialogue and multistakeholder collaboration. Developed with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the platform aims to support more coordinated, transparent and strategic decision-making as Albania advances its agrifood system transformation and European Union integration process.