Approximately ten percent of the Tajikistan’s population is working abroad. This income-driven migration has serious socioeconomic impacts such as divorce, labour shortages in agriculture, legal and financial issues, and increased hardships for rural women’s livelihoods. A joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN Women and UNICEF project, “Empowerment of Abandoned Families for Improved Migration Outcomes in Khatlon”, tackled multiple issues faced by rural women and families made vulnerable by outmigration of family members. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Committee of Veterinary and Livestock Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan have launched a new project, implemented by the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), under USAID’s Global Health Security program. The project will support Uzbekistan’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to animal and public health threats. The inception workshop of the FAO ECTAD project brought together representatives in the agriculture, veterinary, and livestock sectors from the Government of Uzbekistan, international organizations, national research institutes, and civil society.

More than 400 participants gathered last week in Antalya, Türkiye with the common goal to scale up science for effective fisheries management at the second edition of the Forum on Fisheries Science in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (Fish Forum 2024). The event, organized by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is the most important scientific gathering dedicated to fisheries and related issues in the region.

The Europe and Central Asia region has a wide variety of topography and climates and is vulnerable to climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been partnering with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for over two decades to support countries in sustainably managing natural resources and preserving biodiversity in a changing climate and to ensure food security and nutrition while reversing environmental degradation and its impacts.

The Republic of Moldova's table grape sector is set to gain new opportunities thanks to its inclusion in the "One Country One Priority Product" (OCOP) initiative, led globally by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). A pivotal technical assistance agreement, valued at USD 350 000 for two years, was formalized at the start of this week between the FAO Representative in the Republic of Moldova, Raimund Jehle, and the Deputy Prime-minister and Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAFI), Vladimir Bolea.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) welcomed an additional $3 million contribution from PhosAgro, Russia's leading phosphate-based fertilizer producer, to support the efforts of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) to help more farmers implement soil-improving management measures and boost the capacities of national soil laboratories in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Near East.

The Republic of Moldova is at high risk of drought and extreme weather events, two challenges exacerbated by climate change. Family farmers and others in the agriculture sector are the most vulnerable to the impacts of these extreme events. The severe drought in 2022, for example, was devastating for smallholder farmers. In 2023, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) distributed 30 tonnes of seeds and 60 tonnes of fertilizer to 1 224 small farmers in the Calarasi, Rascani and Cantemir districts.

A competition to find new ways to reduce antibiotic misuse in production animals has resulted in promising findings on how improved gut health in broiler chickens could boost immunity and reduce antibiotic-resistant bacteria, an approach that could bring wider benefits across the entire sector. The competition was organized by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and supported by the Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science and the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

The urgency of a coordinated response to contain the threat of African Swine Fever was high on the agenda at the recent National Convention on Animal Health, Food Safety, and Quality in Serbia. At the event, lessons were shared from an EBRD/FAO project in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia that has taken a regional cross-sectoral approach to containing the spread of the disease.

The AgriTech Observatory has just been launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and is now live for review. The knowledge portal offers a tool to monitor the rapidly evolving landscape of digital agriculture in Europe and Central Asia, identify innovative solutions to regional challenges and scale up good practices.