Resource information
Despite the large potential of the
agricultural sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,
production is still limited by a lack of technical knowledge
and, in many cases, an unwillingness to change agricultural
practices inherited from Soviet times. The problem has more
than one cause: poor technology, management skills, and
quality of produce prevent farms from joining agribusiness
supply chains. Limited access to financing further prevents
farmers who want to improve practices from making the
investments needed to achieve better productivity and
efficiency. This situation is further complicated by an
unfriendly regulatory environment, specifically, land
ownership issues and corrupt state subsidies systems, which
distort the market. International Financial Corporation
(IFC) Private Enterprise Partnership in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia (IFC PEP-ECA) has developed a comprehensive
approach to tackling each of these issues in its
agribusiness projects; this approach has also been affirmed
by the independent evaluation group.
