Expansion of Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek local smallholder organic agriculture and forest-based food products to EU Markets

With the financial support from the European Commission Central Asia Invest V Program

ELSOFP (Expansion of Local Smallholder Organic Farming and Forestry Products) from Central Asia

The project focuses on agricultural and forest lands to contribute to the relevant UN SDGs through the promotion of sustainable ecosystem services, responsible and effective natural resource management in the target regions and groups of the project.

The proposed project aims to:

• Boost the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)in the agri-food sector of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan through increasing the efficiency and sustainability of production and processing of food products from smallholder farming and forest management operations
• Promoting the sustainable management of natural resources, in particular of agricultural, forest and pasture lands, through organic production practices, which reduce adverse impacts on climate change and enhance natural biodiversity compared to intensive agriculture practices
• Establishing sustainable high-quality value chains for Central Asian food productsto EU markets through improving collaboration and coordination of stakeholders along the value chain, particularly of
• smallholder producers
• food processing/manufacturing enterprises
• traders to EU markets
• Strengthening enabling environments for local agri-food and forestry systemsto fully explore their market potential in local and export markets through promoting certification of selected food products in line with market and relevant food hygiene requirements, which will enable market access for smallholders
• Increasing the capacity of local advisory services(e.g., on marketing, certification, legislation, financial literacy etc.) to facilitate the entrepreneurial capacity of local smallholders through the establishment of an on-line knowledge platform;
• Support gender equality and sustainable economic development targeting women, youth, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and ethnic minorities through long-term stabile employability.

The key stakeholder groupsinclude:

• Small-scale farmers and forest owners (incl. women, youth, IDPs and ethnic minorities);
• Local provinces/municipalities (19 – according to number of agricultural and NTFP collection locations);
• Private-sector companies/food processing factories,
• Institutions providing advisory services in the agri-food sector,
• CA-EU traders and brokers,
• Final consumers in the EU markets.

The project will help small agricultural and forestry producers and processors to increase their knowledge and skills, introduce improved production and processing technologies supported by the creation of well-functioning community services for the distribution of agricultural and forest products, and, finally, improve their access to the European market.

For further information please read here (active hyperlink to the booklet in PDF format)