Discussion of the draft Program of food security and nutrition for 2018-2022
On August 15, 2018 the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Processing and Land Improvement of the Kyrgyz Republic with the support of the World Bank project “Agricultural Productivity and Nutrition Improvement Project” was held the Roundtable on the topic: “Discussion of the draft Program of food security and nutrition for 2018-2022”. Representatives of state bodies, international organizations, business-associations, experts were invited to participate.
The purpose of this activity was to gather all stakeholders to discuss the final draft Program, development of the action plan and indicators for monitoring of the implementation of the Program.
The program itself includes the main sections:
- provision food availability in the domestic market
- provision food accessibility
- improving the use of food
- improving food security
- food security management system
Food security is an integral component of the national and economical safety of the country as a whole, since food security issues are closely linked to the overall process of social and economic development.
Food security refers to the physical availability of food in sufficient quantities, the ability of households to access these foods (products, produced in households as well as those purchased in the market, gifts and other sources) and the food consumption in quantities, needed for nutritional requirements.
To assess the level of food security, 9 main products are used: bread and bread products, potatoes, fruits and berries, vegetables and gourds, sugar, vegetable oil, meat and meat products, milk and milk products, eggs.
In 2015 the Program of food security and nutrition in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2015-2017 and the Action Plan were adopted. And as shown by the analysis of the implementation of this Program, the food security of the country remains the most relevant issue, as the country is still dependent on factors such as global economic shocks, changes in world food prices and commodities, weather and climate disasters that have a negative impact on the country’s economy and the food security situation in general.
In this regard, the project has organized the Roundtable on this topic. During the Roundtable on each of the sections, experts were held a survey of the current situation, the results of the last program implementation, developed directions and action plan for the implementation of the set tasks.
Working groups of invited experts, staff of state bodies, international organizations and NGOs were organized for each section. Opinions, comments, suggestions were heard. Everyone agreed that the developed program should be implemented and aimed at improving both the food security of the country and food security of products.
Special attention was paid to the issue of food accessibility for low-income families, attention was paid to the nutrition of children from birth to school age. The issue of food security in the regions of the country was raised. In the developed program, focused on the implementation of food security system – HACCP, ISO 9001, FSSC 22000, Global GAP, – at all stages of production of the product – “from field to fork”.
Following the results, it was decided that the working groups will continue their work until the final draft Program of food security and nutrition for 2018-2022 in order to post it on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Processing and Land Improvement of the Kyrgyz Republic for the public discussion of the country.
