24 May 2023, Baku, Azerbaijan – Wheat is the most cultivated food crop in the world. However, a number of biotic factors affect its productivity and production volume. One of these is rust disease caused by species of the fungus Puccinia spp. The disease is widespread in Central Asia and the Caucasus and many other parts of the world, and...

10 May 2023, Izmir, Türkiye – In order to assess the growing threat posed by wheat rust diseases to regional food security, experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Türkiye, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, gathered in Izmir to attend a ten-day training workshop (1–10 May 2023) to evaluate options for monitoring, cooperation, integrated disease management and information exchange. The participants included representatives from...

3 May 2023, Kyrgyzstan – Since April 2022, FAO has been actively implementing a project entitled “Forest Restoration Improvement for Environmental Development and Sustainability in Central Asia” (FRIENDS). The project has a twofold aim: to develop national capacities to restore large-scale forest and other wooded lands and to enhance know-how to prevent degradation. FRIENDS is being implemented in the beneficiary...

17 April 2023, Ankara – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), key national stakeholders and partner organizations of the three-year project “Reduction of Food Loss and Waste in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye” have come together to conclude the project, take stock of its milestones, and set a vision for more sustainable and resilient national food...

 4 April 2023, Ankara –  What is the situation of women living in rural areas and how are they profiled? Neşe Çakır Sayran: Most of the world’s extreme poor live in rural areas. According to TURKSTAT data, two-thirds of the most vulnerable and 90 percent of the extreme poor in Türkiye live in rural areas. Approximately 5.6 million people work in the agricultural sector,...