FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia

Europe and Central Asia – Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023

Statistics and trends

The 2023 Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Europe and Central Asia is the ninth Europe and Central Asia report monitoring regional trends and progress made towards reaching Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 food security and nutrition targets. SDG 2, often referred to as the “Zero Hunger” goal, aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

Publications
01/2024

Effective data collection during food control procedures by the public authorities is essential to ensure food safety and compliance with regulations. Using modern technology plays a vital role in acquiring information from food businesses, food control inspections, and other food control actions.

06/2022

The project supported the development and rollout of a NAITS based on open source frameworks (to avoid present and future licensing costs), using modern digital technologies to minimize costs and provide the utmost flexibility, in compliance with the IT strategy of the MEPA. In parallel, the project deployed equipment for the intended users of the software and developed their capacities.

11/2022

This report presents the results of the final evaluation of the project “Technical Assistance to Support the Establishment of a National Animal Identification, Registration and Traceability System (NAITS) in Georgia” implemented from 1 December 2016 to 31 December 2021.

03/2023

Digital agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS) have a great potential to enhance accessibility, delivery, transparency, scope and impacts of information and services for smallholder farmers. However, this potential is often unfully harnessed and the benefits of digital AEAS unequally distributed due to an evident, widening digital divide between rural and urban areas, gender, and different social groups both within and among regions.

05/2024

The ITU Office for Europe and the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia co-authored this document to serve primarily as a compendium supporting the entry of EU pre-accession countries to the EU single market and the alignment of their agricultural policies with the emerging EU legislation related to digital agriculture, and more specifically, the CAP and its delivery.

10/2024

This publication employs FAO's gender-responsive value chain approach to analyze three case studies from Elbasan, Puka, and Leskovik. It highlights the opportunities for strengthening the role of women producers and processors in value chains and identifies key barriers that hinder women's full participation in Albania. Agribusiness incubators are highlighted in the report as innovative solutions designed to meet the specific needs of rural women and promote their economic empowerment.

08/2023

In response to the growing demand for seizing the opportunities brought by digital technologies, the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia has formulated a comprehensive regional action plan to integrate science and innovation and has introduced the Digital REU 2022–2030 approach. It emphasizes affordable and equitable access for rural communities and smallholder farmers, viewing technology as a catalyst for accelerating the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems.

06/2024

This publication assesses the extent, progress and challenges of providing gender-responsive agricultural extension services in Albania based on the FAO Gender and Rural Advisory Services Assessment Tool (GRAST) methodology. This assessment identifies the key gaps at national, organizational and field levels that hinder the achievement of the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the country’s progress towards inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems.

11/2024

In Albania, despite many positive policies and legal developments regarding gender equality, the ownership and management of agricultural businesses remain heavily male-dominated. his policy paper examines the experiences of three European Union countries – Belgium, France and Spain – to showcase good practices for enhancing the role and status of spouses and partners in agricultural businesses. Albania can benefit from these examples to strengthen women's rights in agriculture.

07/2024

This book examines the importance and potential of geographical indication (GI) in Central Asia, drawing insights from global experiences in promoting GI products. It includes successful case studies and provides recommendations for Kyrgyzstan. It illustrates a number of good practices in the promotion of GIs and appellation of origin (AO) products by showing the quality and other positive impacts of geographical indication (GI) value chains.

07/2024

The EIFAAC workshop on citizen science in fisheries was held virtually on 29 February 2024. It was organized by the EIFAAC Secretariat and Inland Fisheries Ireland. The workshop was attendedby 79 participants from 21 countries. Five invited speakers presented their citizen science research findings and recommendations.

07/2024

The Sixth International Carp Conference was organized in Szarvas, Hungary, on 31 August–1 September 2023. The conference aimed to strengthen the “carp segment” within European aquaculture, improve the image of carp pond aquaculture as common European heritage, and to explore the opportunities for carp within “blue aquaculture”. The Sixth International Carp Conference approved the “Szarvas Declaration”.

07/2024

A series of country change stories has been documented in an attempt to ground the global agrifood systems discourse in specific realities and make sense of what they mean at country level. The five stories in this publication illustrate the varied ways in which FAO accompanied governments, civil society organizations and other development partners on a journey of agrifood systems transformation in Côte d’Ivoire, Cambodia, the Pacific, Guatemala and Albania.

06/2024

Food loss and waste (FLW) is a major global challenge, one that squanders precious resources and deepens the climate crisis through the production of greenhouse gas emissions. FLW also exacerbates global problems like poverty and hunger. Reducing FLW is therefore crucial for achieving a more sustainable and equitable agrifood system, which in turn will promote food security, strengthen food chains and minimize the environmental footprint of food systems.

06/2024

This review covers three types of emergency: slow onset (such as drought); rapid onset (flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis; and complex (mostly war or conflict-related). It considers natural disasters and protracted crises only and covers all of these categories of emergencies within Eastern Europe and Central Asia over the past 25 years, based on a set of crises prioritized by the FAO regional team (see Annex A for the list of countries and emergencies).

06/2024

The Kosovo gender profile for agriculture and rural livelihoods aims to improve knowledge on gender‑related issues in agriculture. It proposes evidence‑based recommendations for advancing gender equality.

05/2024

This casebook unfolds the stories of 25 farmers and agripreneurs who have successfully embraced digital technologies. The accounts presented here reveal that, opportunities for innovation and resilience can be found. The case studies presented here, grouped into five distinct use cases, illustrate the transformative power of digitalization in agriculture, and serve as tangible examples of the successes and lessons learned on the path to sustainable development.

05/2024

The war in Ukraine continues to compound the vulnerabilities of rural communities, especially those living near the frontline. Rural communities are increasingly becoming food aid beneficiaries and nearly one‑third of planned food aid beneficiaries under the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan are rural people who traditionally produce their own food. In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed the 2024 Emergency Response Plan (ERP).

05/2024

This 2024 document of the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) describes progress made by EIFAAC in 2023 and 2024 towards implementing its workplan and showcases news from EIFAAC Members, such as new policies, new legislation, new studies, and innovations in aquaculture and inland fisheries production and management.

04/2024

This is an updated version of the 2017 Guide to mainstreaming gender in the FAO project cycle. It provides project formulators with practical guidance and tools to implement the gender related requirements established in the different phases of the FAO project cycle, and to support the formulation of projects and programs that contribute to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems, as foreseen by FAO’s mandate.