"Many of the irrigation systems in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have been shut down because of problems related to organizational requirements, the supply of energy, land ownership, profitability, cost, agricultural marketing problems, and external and internal strife." Improving the relative inefficiency of agriculture and protection of the natural environment are two of the most important challenges facing the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central and Eastern Europe. This volume documents the development experience in rural, natural resources and environment projects, and research and technical assistance activities in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region. This experience has varied widely between sectors and between countries. However, certain lessons learned should inform future activities in the same sectors. Some of the most important findings for these economies include the importance of institutional capacity to sustain reforms, the value of facilitating local participation to increase the sustainability of development programs, and the requirements for fostering a dialog between stakeholders, including the private sector.

This regional publication provides an overview of the development of organic agriculture in eighteen (18) countries in the following ECA sub-regions: Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan); Eastern Europe (Belarus, Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine); South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia); and South Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey). The report includes an in-depth analysis of how these countries have achieved the current state of organic agriculture regarding legislative and policy frameworks, governance systems, production, key actors, marketing, opportunities and challenges, and future strategies. The presence of transparent and reliable information enables credibility, informed decision-making and policy-making, and investment in the development of the organic agriculture sector.

On 1 May 1 2004, after a 14-year transitional period from central planning to market economics, eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) became members of the European Union (EU). Bulgaria and Romania are preparing for accession and are expected to join in 2007. Croatia submitted its application for membership in 2002 and Macedonia in 2004. Part One of this paper presents an overall analysis of the situation and development of producer groups and farmer cooperatives across the CEE countries, including the new EU members, the applicant countries and Balkan states alike. Part Two provides a case study of FAO's experiences and lessons learned with technical assistance programmes and projects in the subregion. The example presents a number of practical suggestions as to how development organisations, governments, donors and advisers might be best able to facilitate the formulation and implementation of policies and strategies that promote the further development of more autonomous and financially sustainable producers' organisations and cooperatives in CEE countries.

This title was first published in 2001. An interdisciplinary team of leading European scholars bring together case studies from Western and Eastern Europe to illustrate and critically analyze the shifting relationships of agricultural, environmental and food policy in Europe. In the most comprehensive book of its kind it examines the critical changes, both in agricultural, environmental and food politics and the way these domains have been investigated by European social scientists. The book evaluates specific changes, focussing in particular on agricultural restructuring (in the face of globalization, Europeanization and the collapse of the Soviet model of agricultural organization), agriculture-environmental relations and consumer preferences. Beginning by examining the degree to which Europe offers a unique and identifiable rural experience, the book includes a critical re-examination of the process of agricultural transformation. In the light of contemporary events and the over-seductive and essentially mythical notion of post-productivism.