BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 22
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supports the development of agricultural value chain in Azerbaijan, the FAO office in Azerbaijan told Trend.
The official said that FAO contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets mainly supporting the government in the transformation to the sustainable food systems by applying the innovative approached for the increased agricultural productivity in Azerbaijan, ensuring the market access for small and medium businesses, availability of quality food, decent rural employment and nutrition issues.
“In order to increase the investments in the agricultural sector and improve the provision of advisory services and support to small and medium farmers, as well as reduce the negative impact of COVID-19, to build our collaboration with the government, non-government and private sector. As FAO, we support the development of agricultural value chain, as well as the creation of a favourable environment for rural development,” the FAO said.
Currently, FAO is implementing a number of projects in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources to ensure environmental and food security in Azerbaijan.
“An example of this is the FAO's "Improving national food safety systems and regional cooperation” project with the Food Safety Agency, which aims to implement a number of legal and institutional reforms in the country to establish an effective food control system. It aims to strengthen official food safety controls and communication about risks in recipient countries, and provide an enabling environment for public and private sectors to address priority food safety risks,” the official said.
The FAO official added that the project will also support the creation of more inclusive and efficient food safety systems in beneficiary countries, and prioritize improvements in agri-food trade and market integration by focusing on the implementation of risk and evidence-based food safety controls.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @nargiz_sadikh