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Empowering Rural Communities in Central Asia through Digital Transformation in Agriculture - FMM/GLO/171/MUL

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Synopsis (short abstract) Rural communities in Europe and Central Asia grapple with a triple challenge: the urban-rural gap, gender disparities and the digital divide, which perpetuate a cycle of decline characterized by limited economic opportunities and inadequate services. Digital technologies have the potential to significantly alleviate the challenges encountered in rural areas by enabling instant virtual communication and access to e-services. Grounded in the FAO 1 000 Digital Villages Initiative (DVI), which aims to transform villages in Europe and Central Asia into hubs that are smarter, greener and richly digitally connected and interconnected, the project focused on accelerating the digital transformation of agriculture and rural areas in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its efforts centred on laying the foundations for the development of digital villages across the countries with the goal to empower every village and rural community to utilize digital technologies to increase agricultural productivity and access to services and uplift rural livelihoods by leveraging their local strengths.

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