About the project
The agricultural sector is an important source of livelihood for the rural population in Central Asia. At the same time, the region’s agricultural and forest landscapes are threatened by excessive water use, land degradation, overgrazing, and overuse of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from natural forests. These problems are further exacerbated by population growth and economic development.
Therefore, agroforestry systems, which integrate nut and fruit trees into agricultural production, offer great potential in Central Asia for the sustainable production of high-quality food while mitigating negative environmental impacts and improving adaptation to climate change. However, factors such as lack of knowledge among stakeholders, unreliable marketing channels, and an underdeveloped processing sector currently hamper the spreading of these systems in the region.
Project Goal
The SUFACHAIN project will contribute to the sustainable management of Central Asia’s agricultural and forest landscapes.
The project aims to analyse agroforestry systems and integrate them into local land use, and to develop products and technologies that contribute to sustainable resource use and local value creation. The project focusses on analysing agroforestry and plantation areas to include nut and fruit trees, developing more efficient processing technologies and higher quality food products, improving marketing channels through supply chain transparency, strengthening producer organisations and certification, and increasing local value through valorisation of ecological and social ecosystem services.
