Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
-
Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetDigitalization of the food control system to measure food safety in Georgia 2024
Also available in:
Effective data collection during food control procedures by the public authorities is essential to ensure food safety and compliance with regulations. Using modern technology plays a vital role in acquiring information from food businesses, food control inspections, and other food control actions. Digital systems allow real-time assessment of the current food safety compliance levels, permit establishing baselines and trend analyses, and enable targeted actions as a response to the food control results. A well-functioning digital system can provide results from several food safety aspects, pointing out where there is room for improvement giving the food control authority tools to strive for better effectiveness of food control and food safety. Georgia, a country that earlier applied mainly a non-digital environment to collect and analyze food control data, has developed a digital system to modernize data acquisition in recent years. Until 2017 the National Food Agency received food control results from the regions on spreadsheets and text files. The collection of the data from the files was ineffective, cumbersome, and prone to mistakes. Authorities experienced problems in receiving timely data throughout the food chain including information on registrations of food businesses, inspection results, and any other relevant food safety data. This impaired the understanding of the food safety situation in Georgia and the development of food control. The new system, which has been in use since 2017 in the capital and since then expanded to the whole country. It contains up-to-date food safety data on food businesses and compliance. Georgia is further developing the digital system to include more information from the food chain, which will permit comprehensive analyses of the food safety state and food control effectiveness. This document was developed within the framework of the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia and the University of Helsinki collaboration on the “Call for collecting good practices in improving food safety management”, launched in June 2022. This call aimed to empower organizations to showcase innovative solutions and good practices to improve specific aspects of food safety management in Europe and Central Asia. It facilitates experience sharing and co-learning amongst the Member countries in the region. Five good practices were identified under three categories: i) Measuring the effectiveness of food control; ii) Solutions to support small-scale producers to comply with food safety requirements; iii) Use of digital solutions to improve food safety management. -
Book (series)A guide to multiple-use forest management planning for small and medium forest enterprises 2023
Also available in:
No results found.This publication discusses the concept, evolution, and requirements of forest management planning, focusing on multiple-use forest management and small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs). Forest management planning is a document that translates forest policies into a coordinated programme for managing forests over a set period of time, integrating environmental, economic, and social dimensions. It serves various purposes, such as legal documents, concession agreements, and tools for sustainable forest management. Multiple-use forest management recognizes the diverse values and benefits that forests provide beyond timber, such as water regulation, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and cultural values. Despite its challenges, forest management planning can contribute to sustainability and optimize the value derived from forests. SMFEs play a crucial role in supporting livelihoods and forest-based economies. However, barriers such as policy environments, lack of support tools, and management challenges need to be addressed. Forest management planning can help overcome these barriers by ensuring legal compliance, mitigating risks, promoting sustainability, and supporting marketing and value chain development. It is also a valuable tool for empowering local forest users, involving stakeholders, and negotiating benefit-sharing arrangements. The process of forest management planning involves gathering information, defining objectives, developing silvicultural and ecosystem services plans, creating a business plan, planning for unusual events, and establishing a monitoring system. It is an adaptive learning process that continuously evaluates and adapts plans based on the results of forest management activities. Stakeholder engagement is key to developing a socially acceptable forest management plan, starting with identifying stakeholders, creating awareness, informed discussions, and monitoring to keep stakeholders accountable for their agreed responsibilities. Negotiating expectations and building consensus helps identify conflicts and integrate qualitative data to improve decision-making in multiple-use forest management. In conclusion, forest management planning is essential for sustainable forest management, contributing to the well-being of communities, the environment, and the economy. This guide provides a framework for forest management planning, guiding forest managers through the planning process stepwise and providing advice on information sources needed during the planning process. The framework can be adapted to national and local contexts in line with relevant regulatory requirements. -
Book (stand-alone)Meeting the European Union's digital agriculture requirements
An ITU-FAO compendium for pre-accession countries and territories
2024Also available in:
No results found.Agriculture in the European Union (EU) is undergoing a complex process of digitalization. According to FAO and ITU, digital agriculture refers to the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes (adapted from Sylvester, 2016). More specifically, it involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use ICT in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. Provisions of standards, norms, methodologies, and tools as well as development of individual and institutional capacities, and policy support are all key components. Understanding the latest developments and regulations related to digital agriculture in the European Union is becoming more challenging due to the continuous evolution and deployment of digital technologies and the growing interrelationship between digitalization and agriculture across the whole EU Acquis. For the countries and territories whose negotiations ahead of accession to the European Union are continuing, this represents an additional undertaking, as they are being called on to meet these requirements, or indeed, go beyond them. Addressing this issue, this compendium summarizes the EU requirements related to two specific areas of digital agriculture: 1) the establishment of digital information systems to support CAP management, monitoring and evaluation by government authorities, from the design phase to the delivery, auditing, monitoring and evaluation of the systems; and 2) public strategies and interventions supporting the digitalization of agriculture, including CAP support for the provision of farm advisory services and investments, and such cooperation projects as smart villages. The ITU Office for Europe and the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia co-authored this document to serve primarily as a compendium supporting the entry of EU pre-accession countries1 to the EU single market and the alignment of their agricultural policies with the emerging EU legislation related to digital agriculture, and more specifically, the CAP and its delivery.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.