DUSHANBE, October 20, 2015, Asia-Plus – A three day Regional Training Workshop on Sustainable Crop Production and Conservation Agriculture took place in Dushanbe on October 15-17.
According to FAO Country Office in Tajikistan, the main goal of the event was to review the current situation and enhance the capacity of national experts on sustainable crop production intensification and conservation agriculture.
Experts from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Ukraine reportedly also participated in the workshop and presented achievements reached on conservation agriculture in their respective countries.
The workshop participants also discussed the draft of the strategy on improved farmers’ capacity in diversification of cropping system for Tajikistan.
“We hope that this event will have strong impact on adoption and promotion of modern crop management practices for sustainable crop production. These practices will help to improve crop yield and quality, farm productivity, food security, rural development, sustainable livelihoods and environmental,” said Viorel Gutu, FAO Representative in Tajikistan.
Tajikistan is an agrarian country and crop production plays an important role especially as cereal and technical crops account for 20% of national gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture remains a key sector for both economic and social development of the country.
In the country, inadequate knowledge of modern farming technologies is a serious constraint which includes both lack of experienced and trained farmers as well as shortage of modern tools, equipment and machinery and means of communication. In that context, FAO received official request from the Ministry of Agriculture to provide technical assistance in development of farmers’ capacity in the diversification of cropping systems and promotion of modern crop management techniques.
The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Tajik Ministry of Agriculture.
