Expansion and promotion of organic agriculture and forest food products of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to EU markets

The project targets agricultural and forest landscapes in order to contribute to relevant UN SDGs by promoting sustainable ecosystem services and efficient, sustainable landscape management among the project target groups.

• Increase the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the agri-food sector of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by improving the efficiency and sustainability of production and processing from small farms and forestry holdings.
• Promote sustainable natural resource management, especially agricultural, forest and pasture lands, through organic production methods that reduce negative climate impacts and increase natural biodiversity compared with intensive farming methods.
• Create sustainable, high-quality value chains for food products in Central Asia for EU markets by improving cooperation and coordination among stakeholders across the production chain.
• Strengthen favorable conditions for local agri-food and forestry systems to fully explore their market potential in domestic and export markets by encouraging certification of selected food products in line with market and food hygiene requirements, ensuring market access for small farmers.
• Increase the capacity of local advisory services, such as marketing, certification, legislation and financial literacy support, to foster the entrepreneurial potential of local smallholders through an online knowledge platform.
• Support gender equality and sustainable economic development focused on women, youth, internally displaced persons and ethnic minorities through long-term stable employment.

• Local farmers and forest users.
• Local communities, rural women and youth.
• Local advisory service providers.
• Central Asian food-sector MSMEs, traders and export retailers.
• Consumers in Europe and Central Asia.

The project helps small-scale agricultural and forest producers and processors improve their knowledge and skills, introduce upgraded production and processing technologies, and ultimately improve their access to European markets.