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IFPRI Workshop -- Workshop in Central Asia Sets Policy Reform
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Alisher Tashmatou of the Rural Restructuring Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Uzbekistan, introduces Per Pinstrup-Andersen to the local bread.
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Since the countries of Central Asia became independent from the Soviet Union, they have struggled to make the transition from centrally planned economies to market-oriented systems, but progress in policy reforms has been slow. To generate momentum in the reform process, Central Asian institutions asked IFPRI, together with the Tashkent State Agrarian University, to organize a regional workshop on “Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Policy Research: Setting the Priorities.” The workshop, held July 19 to 21 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, brought together 35 policy researchers and decisionmakers from five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), and international agricultural research organizations.
The goals of the workshop were to develop a regional consensus on ways to alleviate poverty, reduce food insecurity, and sustainably manage the use of natural resources; to identify gaps in information needed to carry out policy reforms successfully; and to develop a set of priorities for policy research in Central Asia.
Market reforms, regional trade, agribusiness and postharvest technology, food security and agricultural diversification, water use management, and sustainable use of rangelands were issues given high priority.
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