Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in collaboration with Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, convened a national workshop to enhance Uzbekistan’s laboratory capabilities for pesticide quality control and residue analysis.

The project “Technical assistance for sound management of hazardous chemicals” is part of a broader EU-funded program supporting Uzbekistan’s transition to a sustainable, climate-neutral economy. The workshop aims to strengthen the nation’s capacity to protect public health and the environment through improved chemical analysis and monitoring systems bringing together key stakeholders from public and private laboratories across the state.

The event addressed critical challenges in Uzbekistan’s laboratory network, focusing on equipment modernization, staff training, and inter-ministerial cooperation. Representatives from various government agencies, including the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, the Ministry of Health represented by the Sanitary and Epidemiological Committee, and the Agency for Plant Protection and Quarantine, participated alongside private sector laboratories. FAO has been undertaking a baseline assessment of labs, revealing that while the country maintains a network of specialized laboratories across government ministries, academic institutions, and the private sector, these facilities face significant operational and strategic challenges that the workshop aimed to address. Stephen Robinson, FAO project’s senior technical advisor, emphasizes the strategic importance of this initiative: "Uzbekistan stands at a crucial juncture in modernizing its pesticide management system. Our analysis shows that strategic consolidation of laboratory infrastructure, coupled with focused capacity building in specific chemical analysis areas like food safety and pesticide residue testing, would significantly strengthen the country’s analytical capabilities. By identifying and investing in institutions with the strongest foundation, we can create centers of excellence that serve both regulatory needs and support agricultural development. This approach would create a more efficient and sustainable system connecting farmers, markets, and regulatory bodies”.

Upali Samarajeewa, an international laboratory accreditation consultant outlines that, "The path to international laboratory accreditation requires a systematic transformation of how we approach pesticide analysis in Uzbekistan. Our assessment has identified organophosphates and organochlorines as primary concerns, and addressing these requires more than just modern equipment – it demands a complete quality management system. True accreditation under ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards involve developing validated testing methods, maintaining rigorous quality controls, and building sustainable technical expertise. This is fundamentally different from basic certification and requires sustained commitment from all stakeholders. By establishing internationally recognized standards in our laboratories, we create a robust foundation for protecting public health, supporting agricultural exports, and ensuring environmental safety.”- he says about the comprehensive nature of the required improvements.

The technical assessment depicts systemic challenges facing Uzbekistan’s laboratory sector. As was stressed during the workshop, most laboratories were established through government initiatives without sustainable business models, leading to operational difficulties in procuring essential materials and retaining qualified staff. Despite holding ISO 17025:2019 certification, many facilities struggle to meet international accreditation standards due to financial constraints and operational limitations. The current landscape reveals a complex interplay between various institutional laboratories. Government facilities under the Ministries each maintain specialized focuses on food safety, environmental monitoring, and pesticide residue analysis. Meanwhile, private and academic laboratories complement these efforts with research and quality control services in agricultural and environmental science.

A significant finding of the assessment is the prevalence of competition over collaboration among laboratories, with facilities often striving for exclusivity in their domains rather than fostering cooperative relationships. This approach, combined with reliance on outdated sanitary norms and challenges in communicating technical results to farmers, has created barriers to sector-wide improvement.

Elmurod Nazarov, National Project Coordinator, emphasizes the institutional framework supporting these improvements: "Effective pesticide management in Uzbekistan requires seamless coordination across our entire institutional framework. From the Cabinet of Ministers’ oversight of waste management programs to specialized monitoring by our health, ecology, environmental protection, and climate change ministries, each institution plays a vital role in this complex ecosystem. The Central Analytical Control Service’s laboratory monitoring works in tandem with the Sanitary and Epidemiological Committee’s public health surveillance, while the Agency for Quarantine and Plant Protection ensures agricultural safety through comprehensive pesticide residue analysis in plants. By strengthening these interconnections and aligning our laboratory practices with international standards, we build a more robust and integrated system for protecting both our environment and the people. The collaboration we’re seeing between public health authorities, environmental laboratories, universities, and private sector facilities marks a significant step toward building this comprehensive monitoring system."

The workshop follows a comprehensive baseline assessment conducted by FAO in late 2024, examining laboratories capable of analyzing pesticides, fertilizers, and residues in food and environmental media. This assessment, combined with work by the International Trade Centre (ITC) on laboratory accreditation, informs the development of a strategic roadmap for laboratory capacity building in Uzbekistan. The recommendations for transforming laboratory operations, including the development of sustainable business models that account for operational costs, staff incentives, and infrastructure improvements were also central points to the workshop.

The initiative promotes a transition from outdated norms to internationally recognized methodologies, implementing Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and "5 Batch Analysis" standards. A key focus is developing systems for interpreting results that are accessible to local agricultural practitioners while maintaining scientific rigor.

The event concluded by providing participants with practical insights into current laboratory operations and future development opportunities and a study tour to the laboratory under Center for Specialized Analytical Control in the Field of Environmental Protection.