The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way food is moved, sold, and bought in urban areas worldwide – creating some new trends and accelerating others. In Europe and Central Asia, the pandemic and geopolitical tensions disrupted supply chains, affecting food availability and prices in cities. Understanding how this new reality has reshaped the urban food distribution landscape is the subject of a joint report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and FAO’s Investment Centre, titled Building resilience in urban food logistics systems.

Women living in rural areas of Tajikistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan are a large portion of the population and play vital roles in both farming and non-farming activities. Among the many challenges they face are gender-based barriers that affect their efforts to build resilient livelihoods. Poor social and physical infrastructure, climate variability (which affects crop yields and prices) and structural inequalities widen gender gaps and limit rural women’s access to economic opportunities. For the past three years, the FAO–Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture has helped these women gain access to technical skills and equipment and has guided responsible institutions to ensure that policies and practices in agriculture and forestry are aware and responsive to the needs and priorities of rural women.

As part of One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “Sustainable Chestnut Value Chain Development”, the "Chestnut Route" was established to promote sustainable development in the Albanian Alps by capitalizing one of the area’s most distinctive natural products, chestnuts.

The hiking opportunity already awaits mountain lovers and those celebrating International Mountain Day (11 December) under the annual theme “Mountain solutions for a sustainable future – innovation, adaptation and youth”.

Avian influenza, often referred to as bird flu, is a major transboundary disease with zoonotic potential. By 2024, more than 800 cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus were reported across 23 countries. The disease is present and actively spreading across Europe as well. While avian influenza viruses do not presently transmit easily between humans, continued circulation in poultry could lead to mutations that increase human-to-human transmissibility. In response, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is offering online training to equip European veterinarians, who are the first responders, with the skills needed to detect and react to this cross-species virus, helping to mitigate severe health impacts on both animals and people.

Five countries in Europe and Central Asia became better prepared to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in their agrifood systems through support of a project implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and funded by the Russian Federation. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan took initial actions on AMR in the agrifood sectors, with special emphasis on the livestock sector, and implemented measures to reduce the development and spread of AMR.

Raised with livestock, Mahammad and his community have long depended on animals as their main source of income. Moving around together solidified bonds among herding families, fostering collaboration that laid the foundation for their future cooperative. Together, they established Eko-Süd (Eco-Milk), chaired by Mahammad, with the aim of maximizing the production of milk and other dairy products.

In 2023, a new chapter began for Eco-Milk when the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan, provided Mahammad’s cooperative with essential tools, including feed grinders, a dairy processing facility and generators. These tools made basic tasks much easier and faster, allowing the cooperative to focus on what truly matters: producing high-quality milk and dairy products for their community.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has released a flagship report entitled The state of food systems in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) region, offering a detailed analysis of agrifood systems across the Black Sea region, highlighting key trends, challenges and opportunities in 12 countries. The publication was produced under the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization Regional Cooperation Centre for Sustainable Food Systems project, which was launched in December 2020 through the FAO–Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture.  

The week of 7–11 October has been all about the European fisheries and aquaculture sectors in Pula, Croatia with the international symposium, "Building a sustainable future for inland fisheries and aquaculture in a time of multiple stressors" and the 32nd Session of the European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC), held in back-to-back succession. The events brought together 120 policy makers and scientists who looked at the status and trends in European inland fisheries, potential for aquaculture growth, and the sectors’ sustainable future in a time of multiple stressors.

For nearly 120 years, farmers in the northeastern region of modern-day Croatia have been making and enjoying artisanal dried sausage from high-quality local pork. Traditionally eaten on special occasions and often included in holiday gift baskets, Baranjski kulen (Croatian for a delicatessen sausage from the Baranja region) is now gaining popularity as an international delicacy. That's in no small part thanks to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) who worked with the Croatian government to help Baranjski kulen gain its Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status from the European Union (EU) over 10 years ago.

Having marked the fifth International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on 29 September 2024, experts and observers reaffirmed that only a coordinated response can overcome the significant challenge this issue presents to achieving sustainable agrifood systems. For over a decade, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has led efforts to reduce food loss and waste because of its crucial role in transforming agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. 

The Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) QU Dongyu highlighted the large untapped potential of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) that needs to be harnessed to ensure an effective transformation of agrifood systems in these countries. He spoke on Thursday at the LLDC Forum on Food Security and the Sustainable Development Goals (5-6 September) in Tashkent jointly organized by FAO and the Government of Uzbekistan.

On 3 September 2024, a webinar "One Health" was held with the participation of 87 representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), representatives of the European Economic Community (EEC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), the Commonwealth of Independent States CIS Executive Committee, authorized bodies of the, Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

A landmark workshop held recently launched a project that will transform the table grape sector in the Republic of Moldova to be more sustainable, resilient and competitive. The workshop brought together 70 key partners, including producers, processors, retailers, government officials, and representatives from international organizations to exchange views and share expectations of the project outputs. The project is a collaborative effort between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Moldovan Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a significant global health threat affecting humans, animals, plants, and the environment, and as such is a perfect example of a One Health issue. In an effort to combat AMR, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has implemented Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) surveys aligned with the objectives in its Action Plan on AMR and the Global Action Plan on AMR. Conducted from 2020 to 2023, these surveys revealed antimicrobial use practices and awareness of AMR in the livestock sector of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo¹, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.

Agritourism is a great example of a systems approach that brings together many interrelated sectors: agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, marketing, food, culture and local economies. Addressing these as a whole allows countries to see key blockages to change as well as emerging opportunities for growth. In 2022, to support the Albanian government in this quest, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean (SFS-MED) project, provided trainings, facilitated dialogues between national and local representatives and lent expertise to stakeholders from various sectors to strengthen agritourism and enhance rural livelihoods.

A three-day seminar on One Health, co-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), concluded on 13 June in Vienna. The meeting, hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Health and held at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, brought together representatives from 38 government agencies across Europe and Central Asia, including ministries of health, agriculture, and environment as well as regional and subregional organizations, institutions, collaborating centres, reference laboratories, relevant actors. 

In Ukraine, access to quality grain production estimates has worsened due to the ongoing war. In response, a three-day technical meeting at FAO on 11-13 March examined if remote-sensing technologies could help complement and strengthen its national data-gathering capacity. The meeting allowed to craft a concrete plan, set deadlines, and pinpoint winter cereals, maize, and sunflower seed as key focus for further joint work. 

African swine fever (ASF) is a very serious animal disease that may kill up to 100 percent of infected animals, both domestic pigs and wild boar of all breeds and ages and for which, currently, there is no commercially available vaccine or treatment. It poses significant economic, livelihood and biodiversity threats to the region's pig sector and wild populations. As part of its work to combat African swine fever in the region, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is building capacity to improve ASF management by teaching outbreak investigation and basic epidemiology to participants from Western Balkans in a four-day workshop in Sarajevo from 21 to 24 May.

The Thirty-fourth Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Conference for Europe (ERC), scheduled from 14 to 17 May in Rome, is in full swing. This conference, which is the main FAO decision-making body for its Europe and Central Asia region, features ministerial round-table discussions and side events on current challenges and opportunities for the food and agriculture realm of the region. Hosted at FAO’s headquarters and webcast live online, the ERC side events welcome speakers from governments, the private and civil sectors, and the academic community to look at such key issues as sustainable locust management, foresight drivers and triggers, climate action, water resource management, true cost accounting, and the challenges of transforming agrifood systems in landlocked developing countries to be more inclusive, resilient and sustainable – all from a regional perspective.

Today, during the second day of the Thirty-fourth Session of the Regional Conference for Europe (ERC), ministers of agriculture from the Europe and Central Asia region explored the role of innovation and digitalization in the sustainable use of natural resources and reviewed the response of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to the multiple crises in Europe and Central Asia.