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3. Sustainable utilization of natural resources, environmental protection, maintenance of ecosystems, climate change mitigation, and adaptation to the changed climate - Awareness-raising about climate change – ensure training for the representatives of municipalities and to hold intensive meetings with communities about climate change and its impacts as well as to organize the training of schoolchildren on environmental issues. - Sustainable use of water, land, and forest resources as well as avoidance of soil, air, and water pollution; - Restoration of windbreaks and promotion of planting o... Read moref more trees for this purpose; - Effective utilization of renewable energy in the regions. - Support the development of circular economics. Read less

2. Ensure effective systems of food/feed safety, veterinary and plant protection - Increase the qualification of food safety and food control personnel. - Achieving the goals of continuous development of integrated food safety system in the country through the elaboration of the guidelines, standard operational procedures (SOPs), and the instructions both for the competent agencies and for the food business operators. - Improvement of the food environment, awareness-raising of the population on food safety and healthy food with the focus on adolescents and the young; - Enhancement of risk asse... Read moressment capacity of food safety (to improve risk assessment methodology), risk assessment and management, risk communication, and effective enforcement of food safety legislation as well as a systematic approach to the risk assessment process. - Enhancement of lab capacities in the country. Introduction of new methods for the diagnosis of the lab tests in the area of food safety, veterinary and plant protection, and/or to expand the accreditation area. Capacity building of lab personnel; Read less

1. Ensure competitive value-chains in the food systems - Increase the competitiveness of the agricultural products in Georgia and development of their value-chains; - Ensure availability of the respective infrastructure for the compliance of products with marketing standards at all stages of value-adding; - Ensure additional supportive policy for the small farmers and the households; - Promotion of engagement of women and young producers in agri-food sector; - Make mechanization more accessible; - Development of agricultural land market; - Development of highly-qualified services and ensure ca... Read morepacity building of human resources in the retail market of agricultural materials; - Increase a range of veterinary drugs and plant protection products in the municipalities; Enhancement of control; - Improve access to funds, agricultural insurance (to cover more risks) knowledge, information and awareness-raising; - Provide support to the diversification of rural economic capacities; - Provide support to agri-tourism and eco-tourism; - Ensure efficient infrastructure (standards, labs, certification agencies) in the agri-food sector; Introduction of international standards in primary production; - Support the development of organic agriculture; - Formation of producers’ associations, their enlargement, and cooperation as well as the improvement of access to the market; Ensure availability of high-quality production equipment and agri-food processing facilities; - Development of infrastructure such as green-houses, storage, hydro-melioration, mechanization, transport, energetics, roads, internet, etc. - Support the development of livestock and breeding activities, fostering preventive actions against livestock diseases and control processes; Ensure compliance of management of severe infections, quarantine, and liquidation actions with the international standards. - Biodiversity conservation, identification of indigenous species, their restoration, and improvement as well as the formation of the genetic bank; - Improvement of irrigation and drainage systems; Read less

Involvement of the civil society sector in policy performance along with the public agencies is of utmost importance. It is vital to actively communicate with the direct stakeholders of the food systems such as producers, unions, associations, NGOs, scientific circles, donors, international organizations, higher educational and vocational institutions, local municipality representatives, and the civic sector in the municipalities. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models as well as the establishment of the Civil Committee can be considered as one of the best mechanisms of cooperation. Collabora... Read moretion at the level of Municipalities, for instance, with rural councils is worth noting as well. Read less

Development of the full value chain in food systems and stimulating rural economic activity is crucial for sustainable development and inclusive economic growth in Georgia. The vital responsibility of the next decade will be to reinforce the development of quality and production technologies, which ensures competitiveness in both local and international markets. Despite implemented and ongoing reforms and development-oriented programs, the food system still faces challenges, which need to be solved as a precondition for the social-economic growth of the country. Our priorities for the next dec... Read moreade are to ensure the existence of a competitive value chain in food systems; To develop an effective system of food/feed safety, veterinary and plant protection; Sustainable use of natural resources, environmental protection, preservation of ecosystems, climate change mitigation and adaptation; Elaboration of effective systems for crisis management. Read less

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Role of the Food Innovation Center and lab requirements Water scarcity is a key constraint; integration and connection of all stakeholders; holistic assessment of research project; commercial outcomes should drive the FoodTech Valley; funding is needed to ensure sustainability and promote exchange and investments; focus on youth, building capacities, training programmes should be tailored for SME; research in food systems is needed; need to define the topic (ideas and innovation for the center); need standardize labs; incentives for external investments; standardized assets. Priorities and Zon... Read moreing for AgriTech Water, biosecurity, collaboration, vertical farming, integrated and systemic thinking, research into water treatment and treated sewage effluent; quality control areas for products, sustainability goals, different forms of energy, waste recycling, agtech platform, IT and blockchains. Enablers required by subsector Funding with direct economic returns, competitive pricing, engaging the private sector, and considering the stage the company is at, to ensure there are no gaps in the process. Read less

Attendance: 109 participants attended the event. Participants were drawn from a wide and diverse category of stakeholders group and sectors and with a good gender distribution (see part 1 – participation). The event was organized around three plenary thematic discussion sessions: - Session 1: Role of the Food Innovation Center and lab requirements: three questions were posed for discussion: a) what do you envision the future trend of food innovation will be in the next decade? b) what is needed to effectively utilize the innovation center as a catalyst to transform your idea/innovation, c) C... Read morean you identify the required equipment and materials to support your food innovation? - Session 2: Priorities and Zoning for AgriTech: participants reflected on three questions: a) what are the most significant thematic sub-zones of each main zone? b) what is the recommended plot size for each sub-zone and are they specific zoning needs that must be taken into consideration? and c) Are there any specific infrastructure or regulatory needs for each sub-zone? - Session 3: Enablers required by subsector: participants discussed and shared viewpoints, expectations and enablers or success factors of the FoodTech Valley initiative. Summary of deliberations (curator) Embracing the 7 principles, the dialogue was constructive and has helped participants to share common understanding and value, components of the FoodTech Valley and its potential for contributing towards increasing local food production in specialized zones and thus contributing to the overall agenda to achieving food security. The food tech value is an exciting and futuristic project aiming at transforming food systems in a resilient and sustainable manner. It was noteworthy to understand that the following comments were instrumental in planning the FoodTech Valley initiative and were shared by the attendees: a. Integrated research and development approach to capitalize on the wide knowledge and expertise of the NGOs, research institutes, academia and private sector. b. The desert farming approach shall enable a higher value proposition for the FoodTech Valley. c. The need to incorporate a digital modern farming zone, which enables many of the fourth-industrial revolution applications. d. When creating subzones, it is necessary to take into account integrated and shared facilities to serve the full food supply chain including marketing and sales channels. e. Food Innovations is a critical component to the success of the initiative, thus the need to enhance regulations around labor law to attract scientists for part time employment during experimentation. f. The need to ease the process of access/import of equipment’s utilized in food innovation. g. Provision of natural resources at affordable costs including solar energy, TSE and Carbon dioxide. h. Provision of standard laboratory and equipment’s to support cellular agriculture, material testing for CEA, fermenters, 3D food printing, bio-reactors. i. Provision of space for CGIAR research and development institutes. j. Provision of Water Cooling Infrastructure to enable farming during summer period (underground water reservoir). Key takeaways from the discussions: - Need to look for means of utilizing water resources in a sustainable manner (be it conventional and non-conventional), as water scarcity is a major constraint to food production in the UAE; - Use of controlled environment agriculture (CEA), biosaline agriculture, cellular agriculture; - Engaging youth is a key enabler to making the FoodTech Valley successful; - Innovation Center: need to look at human capacity, training, guiding start-ups throughout an innovation development cycle; as well standard lab provision, integration with CGIAR research enters, ability to enhance access of specialized food equipment’s and finally ease of labor law for scientists during experimentation time - Ecosystems to enabler innovators to move from idea/concept into piloting to large scale production; - Resources are needed: i.e. natural gas, hydrogen, storing water, reservoir, using solar energy; - Ecological impact of the FoodTech Valley should be well assessed to attract investments; - Need to define sub-zones and adopt an integrated and systemic approach, exploring linkages between different components and zones within the FoodTech Valley using the integrated desert farming approach; - Innovation Center: not over complicated but establish basic labs to cater for multiple activities, looking at standard things that can be fine-tuned to cater for the different users; - Enabling technology: should always look at ways of simplifying processes; - Sub-zones: digitalization is important (e.g. biosecurity, traceability, test food quality, transform to data); - Alternative feed; - Enablers: not only reversible funding mechanisms, but also grants and engage the private sector. Read less

In the UAE, ensuring food security (current and future) is a high priority. By 2051, the UAE vision is to become a world-leading hub in innovation-driven food security. To realize this vision, the UAE has formulated a National Food Security Strategy anchored upon five strategic directions (agribusiness trade facilitation, technology-enabled food production, reduce food loss and waste, food safety and nutrition and food risks and crisis management) and five enablers (building an effective food security governance model, establishing national research and development agenda, ensuring quality dat... Read morea and information availability, enhancing availability of quality human capital for food, and the food movement) were identified. Guided by the principles of inclusiveness (leaving no one behind), and after a series of stakeholder consultations, the UAE have identified the development of Special Zones for modern Farming and access to agtech as a key strategy to increase local food production in a sustainable way. The UAE, being a leader in the area of agtech, has taken the initial step of piloting its first special zone for agricultural technology in the Emirate of Dubai known as “The FoodTech Valley”. The FoodTech Valley is centered on food, innovation, knowledge, technology and sustainability, and is seen as a catalyst to transform the UAE generally and Dubai specifically to be the hub for future clean tech-based food and agricultural products, and as an economic zone to spearhead innovation and create collaborative networks to lead national and regional transformation for sustainable food systems. This complex development will feature incentives to allocate and provide different modalities for growers who are interested in establishing their advanced modern farming. The major focus of the national dialogue was on the FoodTech Valley. The objective of the dialogue was to discuss the details of the FoodTech Valley. More specifically, to, obtain holistic feedback through an inclusive process of how to enhance special food production zones and maximize the use of this state-of-the-art development; enable all relevant stakeholders to contribute toward a master plan for development of special food production zones and advises on key success factor in an effort to create a win-win situation for all; and finally strengthening relationships with the private sector to enable a transition towards sustainable food systems through adoption of renewable resources and environmentally friendly approaches. Read less