Events in Ankara today and tomorrow kick off the second phase of a successful partnership between Turkey and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

3 July 2017, Rome - Turkey has announced today a $20m donation to back FAO's work aimed at improving food security, rural development and natural resource management in Central Asia and the Caucasus.  

Ensuring that food is safe is a complex task involving many different players. A three-year FAO project to upgrade the food safety capacities of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan held its final workshops in late February.

Gender statistics for agriculture and rural areas will be the focus of a regional seminar that opens here today, with 12 countries of Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia participating.

Conventional soil tilling and other practices have led to loss of soil fertility and lower crop yields in many parts of Central Asia. In a region where agriculture is an important part of the economy and contributes significantly to food security, action to reverse this trend must be a priority.