Young qualified specialists are the basis for the development of the country!

The Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan pays special attention to the issues of increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural sector through the introduction of advanced agricultural practices. However, outdated methods are still used in agricultural production, and conservative behavior and negative factors have caused some problems in agricultural production. For example, the use of pesticides and chemicals negatively affects the export of agricultural products. On April 26, 2023, seminars were held at the Tashkent State Agrarian University and the Samarkand branch of the Tashkent Agrarian University as part of the AgroDev project “Development of Higher Education Content Aimed to Support Industries for Sustainable Production of Qualitative Agri-food”.

More than fifty participants took part in the seminar. The seminar was attended by representatives of the private sector (farmers, farmer cooperatives, associations and agro-clusters), academic staff (teachers from the universities involved in the project and other universities) and relevant government agencies (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, Ministry of Health and others).

The main purpose of the seminars was to 1) present the results and achievements of the AgroDev project, 2) identify further joint initiatives aimed at the availability of modern practices and knowledge, and 3) encourage the application of practices and knowledge in various sectors of the agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Uzbekistan and other areas of primary production related to food (sorting, calibration, packaging, primary processing and other).

The participants of the workshop jointly identified further activities related to the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices and the Standard for ensuring food safety at the level of agricultural production  in the agro-industrial sector of Uzbekistan. Issues of readiness, forms and mechanisms of cooperation and interaction between representatives of agribusiness, universities and the state were discussed.

In particular, on the basis of the Tashkent State Agrarian University, it is planned to form a national platform “science – business” in order to introduce advanced agricultural practices into production processes in Uzbekistan to ensure the quality and food safety of agricultural products.