Countries of Europe and Central Asia continue to benefit from OCOP initiative

FAO and its regional partners strengthened strategic coordination, partnerships, and implementation planning for the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) initiative in Europe and Central Asia, following the second meeting of the Regional Organizing Group (ROG) held on 5 December.

The virtual meeting gathered ROG members, FAO and National OCOP Focal Points and other technical experts and stakeholders from the region to review regional and country-level progress, coordinate efforts to support implementation, mobilize resources and partnerships, and give forward-looking strategic direction to the OCOP programme.  

OCOP is a flagship initiative of FAO that supports the country-owned and country-led efforts to promote the long-term, green and sustainable development of selected Special Agricultural Products (SAPs) with unique characteristics and strong links to local heritage, culture or geographies, with untapped economic and sustainability potential.

Meeting highlights: Regional and country perspectives 

As part of an overview presentation of the OCOP initiative’s regional implementation, FAO Regional Programme Leader for Europe and Central Asia, Raimund Jehle, opened the session with an overview of OCOP’s regional implementation, noting that 11 countries have joined OCOP in the region, focusing on a range of SAPs such as chestnuts in Albania, wine in Georgia, table grapes in Moldova and apricots in Tajikistan to name a few. 

Jehle underscored the progress made in Albania, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, while pointing out some of the challenges and areas for further action. These include the need for improved resources mobilization, better leveraging partnerships, and enhancing coordination, knowledge sharing and communications around OCOP, stressing the critical role that the ROG can play to support these efforts. 

“To achieve our shared ambitions under OCOP, we must become more strategic in how we leverage partnerships through the Regional Organizing Group, and more proactive in communicating our results and sharing innovations from the field,” Jehle said. “Looking ahead, our task is to turn these challenges into opportunities that strengthen impact across the region.” 

Pedro Arias, Economist and OCOP Regional Focal Point for ECA, reinforced this message, highlighting encouraging trends in national engagement and emphasizing the importance of sustained support to maintain momentum. 

Countries that are part of the initiative gave an update of the rollout. In Albania, the OCOP successfully established a biological control programme to improve chestnut forest health which has attracted government and donor funding for scaling up. In Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, OCOP is advancing towards the development of long-term, value chain upgrading strategies and linked investment and action plans. These efforts aim to lay the strategic foundation, investments, partnerships and actions needed to transform the value chains of these special products. 

In the Republic of Moldova, OCOP has also launched a Farmer Field School programme to support farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange in the table grapes value chain, leveraging a tried and tested FAO methodology. Updates from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Türkiye showcased the status of OCOP support to pomegranate, apple, walnut, and fig value chains. Discussions emphasized leveraging digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and multi-stakeholder mechanisms to boost productivity, sustainability, and long-term regional impact.

ROG members, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), and the Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutions, acknowledged the progress made over the past year, highlighting the tangible achievements and technical expertise demonstrated across OCOP initiatives. They emphasized the importance of engaging the private sector to ensure the sustainability and bankability of value chains, noting that in the long-term, using the OCOP to position these VCs to be able to leverage financing from private sector and financial institutions will be critical. 

Participants also underscored the need to integrate research and evidence-based approaches, addressing both macro-level trade dynamics and micro-level resilience, including climate-smart agriculture and circular economy practices.
Three strategic shifts were highlighted: the co-creation of innovations; digital transformation as an integrated ecosystem; and anchoring innovations within national institutions to ensure long-term sustainability. The discussion stressed the importance of multi-stakeholder advisory mechanisms, continuous monitoring through digital tools, and blended public–private partnerships to scale and sustain OCOP initiatives.

Shangchuan Jiang, Project Coordinator at the OCOP Secretariat, provided an update on the initiative’s global progress, announcing that 95 FAO Members worldwide have joined OCOP, mobilizing more than USD 20 million across five regions.

The second meeting of the Regional Organizing Group for implementation of the OCOP initiative in Europe and Central Asia. ©FAO

Looking ahead: a commitment to sustainable agriculture

OCOP has evolved beyond a technical initiative, emphasized Yurdi Yasmi, Director of the FAO Plant Production and Protection Division, and is now shaping value chain development, mobilizing partners, and linking farmers with new opportunities. He noted that OCOP delivers the greatest impact when technical rigor is paired with investment, collaboration, and long-term vision. According to Yasmi, the initiative’s strength is in its synergies with other programmes and its broad partnerships across research, development actors, and the private sector. 

Yasmi underscored that the priority now is implementation: investing in key value chains, strengthening capacities of youth, women, and smallholders, and deepening partnerships to sustain and scale impact.

Concluding the meeting, Jehle reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to supporting the region in achieving its OCOP goals and highlighted the pivotal role of farmers in driving progress. 

“The true value of OCOP lies with the farmers and their work on the ground. By strengthening sustainability and private sector engagement, we can unlock the full potential of this initiative across the region,” he stated.