[{"bbox": [83, 120, 1162, 263], "category": "Text", "text": "and significantly reduce competitiveness and profitability to smallholder farmers and processors. The diminishing\nmonopoly of the government giving space to big private clusters puts the individual smallholders in a weak position,\nwhile they constitute the majority of producers (around 4.8 million). The variety of advisory and business support\nservices still need to be developed together with new financing measures to facilitate a wider inclusion of agri-producers\nand processors in the strategic transformation and market integration."}, {"bbox": [82, 279, 1163, 908], "category": "Text", "text": "b) Green transition could contribute to increased productivity and environmental sustainability. The agri-food sector is threatened by the increasing risks and uncertainties of climate change (variable rainfall distributions, intensity of rainfall, and rising temperatures) exacerbated by unsustainable agricultural practices. Those lead to decreasing quantities and quality of water resources, land degradation, desertification, soil salinity and infertility, and increased risks of flooding. These factors are further aggravated by old and inefficient (and extensively energy consuming) water distribution and irrigation systems. Unfortunately, the current taxation/tariffs of water for irrigation, linked to the land surface area, do not provide an incentive for the efficient use of the limited water resources. While subsidies are available for the introduction of drip irrigation, more support is needed for the development of alternative water resources to complement the surface and ground water. With respect to land management, pastures constitute almost half of the total land resources in the country and over 70% of the total area is regarded as degraded as a result of overgrazing, increasingly exposed to the erosive power of surface water runoff. Moreover, the insecurity of land tenure rights is a critical factor supporting unsustainable land use and discouraging agri-producers from investing in environmentally-friendly practices and climate-smart technologies. Uzbekistan risks facing acute deficiencies in water resources and an increase in land desertification and degradation threatening the country's food security. The support services facilitating the up-take of Good Agriculture and Environmental Practices, and organic production are currently at the initial stage of development. There are also no programmes supporting the development of skills for green jobs or green business start-ups. At the same time, the World Bank Group and Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2021) warn that increased temperatures and more rapid melting of glaciers elsewhere in the region may lead to severe water shortages along Uzbekistan's most important rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, by the 2040s and 2050s. The various scenarios predict temperature rises, droughts and water shortages that will reduce the yields of the major crops in Uzbekistan⁶. These projected climatic conditions and associated realities need to be seriously considered in any development intervention in the agricultural sector in the country."}, {"bbox": [82, 926, 1163, 1410], "category": "Text", "text": "c) Food and nutrition security and food safety will be addressed focusing on dealing with the lack of policy and regulatory framework and management tools supporting food security and nutrition and food safety. As the food system is one of the key drivers of climate change and environmental degradation, there is an urgent need to reduce dependency on pesticides and antimicrobials, reduce excess fertilisation, increase organic farming, improve animal welfare, and reverse biodiversity loss. This challenge is compounded by a lack of availability of modern, quality infrastructure, support services and information systems. Better food safety is vital for the health of the wider population of the country as well as for access to global markets. The EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed reports regularly on rejection from the EU market of products originating from Uzbekistan due to the high level of health threatening toxins. Nutrition insecurity amongst women and men as well as boys and girls in rural areas is a challenge, emanating from a lack of dietary and nutritional knowledge, hygiene and sanitation. This has led to a high incidence of under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies (anaemia and iron deficiency). While recent years have seen some progress in terms of anaemia in women of reproductive age (25% in 2019 compared to 46% in 2002) and child stunting (10.8% in 2019 compared to 25% in 2002), Uzbekistan has been identified as having the highest diet-related disease risk in the world. While a significant proportion of the population is unable to afford a healthy diet (one in three people living below EUR 3.2 a day) and the prevalence of food insecurity has increased from 11% in 2015 to 20% in 2019, half of the adult population are overweight or obese. Obesity disproportionately affects women (22%) as compared to men (16%) and at least one in eight adult women are living with diabetes."}, {"bbox": [83, 1429, 1118, 1456], "category": "Text", "text": "The interventions under two focal areas under the priority 3 of MIP will be inter-linked and mutually reinforcing."}, {"bbox": [83, 1475, 1163, 1560], "category": "Text", "text": "Under the focal area 1 - Agri-food policy framework and advisory services, the efforts will address the need for improved sector-wide governance, and policy and regulatory framework concerning, among others, the enabling business environment, land allocation (ensuring a transparent system to provide equal opportunities for women and"}, {"bbox": [72, 1609, 1156, 1658], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ The World Bank Group and the Asian Development Bank (2021): Climate Risk Country Profile: Uzbekistan, available at: https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/15838-Uzbekistan%20Country%20Profile-WEB.pdf"}, {"bbox": [1144, 1659, 1158, 1680], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "6"}]