FAO Regional Conference for Europe (ERC), 29th Session, Bucharest, Romania

The twenty-ninth FAO European Regional Conference (ERC) and the thirty-eighth session of the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA) “Conference Week” runs
29 March to 4 April 2014, and is held at the Romanian Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, Romania

The major topic for the Ministerial Round Table of the ERC focuses on “Food losses and waste in Europe and Central Asia”. The documentation aims to improve understanding of underlying causes of food losses and waste (FLW) along selected food supply chains in developing countries of European and Central Asia region and raise awareness on the need for introduction of appropriate policy interventions to mitigate the impact of FLW on food security and incomes of smallholders in the region.

At the ECA session major discussions include, inter alia, “Cooperatives and their alternatives”. The purpose of the item is to provide information on how to build value chains in the region that include smallholder farming and raise the incomes of small farms.

Further topics under discussion are “Agri-Food Systems for Better Nutrition or risk-based drought management”.

The conference week in Bucharest includes an NGOs/CSOs Consultation meeting 29-30 March 2014, and the CFS Multi-stakeholder Dialogue, which will discuss inter alia a follow-up regarding Responsible Agriculture Investment, 31 March 2014.

For more information: www.fao.org/about/meetings/erc29/en/