Shete Kemoklidze has been around hazelnuts for most of his 31 years.
"I grew up with hazelnuts," he says. "I was 13 when my father was planting this orchard. In winter, he would get me up at five in the morning, and we did all of it together."

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the National Agency for Land Improvement (ANIF) and with scientific support from the National Institute for Applied Research in Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (IP INCAAMV), has launched a soil sampling campaign at six permanent soil monitoring sites in the districts of Orhei and Rezina. The activity is part of the land degradation neutrality project, implemented by FAO and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

For years, Mukambarxon Umarova’s family depended on their greenhouse, but every growing season brought uncertainty. Today, she manages the entire production cycle herself – from preparing the soil and selecting seeds to protecting the plants and harvesting the crop.
The turning point came in 2022, when Mukambarxon joined an initiative supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The project called “Smart farming for the future generation”, is implemented by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, with financial support from Korea.

The Regional Laboratory Network on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Food and Agriculture in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia concluded its fifth annual consultation meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, marking another milestone in a regional initiative that has grown into an established platform for technical cooperation on AMR surveillance and laboratory capacity.

Creating a new generation of farmers requires more than encouraging young people to enter agriculture. It means ensuring that they can build viable livelihoods, access land, finance and markets, and see rural areas as places where they can build their future. FAO Director-General QU Dongyu opened the High-Level Ministerial Conference on Generational Renewal in Rural Areas alongside David Vlajčić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Croatia. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the State Association of Livestock and Poultry Industry of Turkmenistan have launched a new project to strengthen cattle breeding and expand access to reliable, high-quality artificial insemination services across the country. The project aims to increase the number of pedigree cattle in Turkmenistan and to increase national capacity to provide effective and high-quality artificial insemination services to support the widespread introduction of livestock breeding methods using modern digital technologies. 

Today, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) opened the joint Seventeenth International LANDNET Workshop and Second Interregional Dialogue on Family Farming, convening policymakers, land professionals, researchers and representatives of civil society and the private sector to identify practical solutions for more equitable access to land and improved land governance.

Chestnut trees provide food, income and environmental benefits to communities around the world and are an important part of many forest ecosystems. They are an important species across Europe and Central Asia. Yet these valuable trees continue to face a major threat from chestnut blight, a devastating plant disease that has transformed chestnut forests in many regions. To raise awareness of this disease and support its diagnosis and management, the Virtual Learning Center of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a new self-paced online course on chestnut blight: Understanding, identifying and managing the disease.

Remzije was among the rural women supported through the project Promoting Rural Women's Empowerment in Kosovo, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) with support from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). 

QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today called for a systemic and inclusive approach to securing a sustainable future for the next generation of farmers and rural communities. Speaking at the High-Level Ministerial Conference on Generational Renewal in Rural Areas hosted by Croatia, he stressed that enabling young people to choose agriculture and rural life requires not only support for farming, but also access to land, finance, knowledge and technology, as well as affordable housing, connectivity, childcare, education, health services and opportunities to build a family and a good life.