Following the Kyrgyz tradition, Manzura Orolbaeva welcomes guests with homemade bread and a saucer of melted butter. The bread is made from grain grown on their farm and the butter from the livestock they keep.

Following the evidence-based analysis of gender in the regional response to the war in Ukraine published last year, the Regional Gender Task Force, the leading advocacy and information and coordination platform on gender in humanitarian action in Europe and Central Asia, has released a new gender brief on Ukrainian refugees’ livelihoods and access to work in neighbouring countries.

As the world population grows, so will demand for food. To try to feed the rising population, agricultural production has increased globally by almost 300 percent over the past 50 years.

The first traces of cotton growing in Azerbaijan date back thousands of years. During the Soviet era, it was referred to as "white gold," accounting for approximately 25 percent of agricultural revenue. However, the transition to a free market economy, coupled with the rapid growth of alternative industries in the 1990s, contributed to cotton losing its key role.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has announced its commitment to assess the competence of veterinary graduates in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial stewardship in selected countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia. 

Potatoes are cultivated in over 150 countries and consumed all over the world, including here in Europe and Central Asia where it is both an important crop and a staple in regional diets.  It is food, fodder, and a source of income for farmers.

By 2025, the Serbian food and agriculture sector should be more sustainable, innovative, and inclusive, and with better management of the country’s natural resources. These objectives are detailed in the Country Programming Framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Republic of Serbia.

Dairy and meat businesses in Central Asia, especially smaller ones, are being hit by multiple shocks – from the war in Ukraine, to droughts, to the lingering effects of COVID-19. 

To raise awareness of the importance of work to strengthen urban agrifood systems in the region of Europe and Central Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a webinar in early June focusing on the challenges and opportunities in urban food agrifood systems faced by countries in the region. 

An FAO project taking place in Türkiye and four Central Asian countries has made enormous strides in reducing the use of dangerous pesticides and promoting more natural methods of pest control in the region.