TAJIKISTAN / AGRICULTURE

Farmers who once relied on food aid and were too poor to buy seeds, are once again farming remote parts of Tajikistan and working to restore degraded lands. WORLD BANK

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:31
• Production Date: 16 August 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: WORLD BANK
• Subject Topical: AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; FISHING
• Geographic Subject: TAJIKISTAN
• MAMS Id: U100816f

Description

STORY: TAJIKISTAN / AGRICULTURE
TRT: 3:31
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / TAJIK /NATS

DATELINE: RECENT / APRIL 2010 TAJIKISTAN

Shotlist

FILE - RED RIVER VALLEY, TAJIKISTAN, APRIL 2010

1. Wide shot, orchard
2. Med shot, farmers tending fruit trees
3. Wide shot, orchard with mountains
4. SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Mahmadullo Nusratov, Farmer:
“We sell the grass and its seeds. And because we feed it to our cows they produce more. My cow used to give one liter of milk a day, now she gives four. And our sheep aren’t skinny at the end of winter.”
5. Pan, Red River Valley watershed
6. Various shots, beehives
7. Med shot, herd grazing
8. Med shot, runoff in field
9. Various shots, turkeys
10.SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Nizomiddin Ibrohimov, Turkey Farmer:
“My life has improved a lot, I am out of poverty. Ten years ago, I could not afford food to eat.”
11. Med shot, children playing soccer
12. Med shot, children in village street
13. Med shot, meeting economic development committee
14. SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Nizomiddin Ibrohimov, Turkey Farmer:
“Because I have my business here. Those who leave Tajikistan are doing so to make money to feed their children. I can feed my own children here.”
15. Various shots, women’s group working wool outside
16. Med shot, women sewing wool inside
17.SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Zulaykho Yuldasheva, Entrepreneur:
“I have two ideas, to buy a sewing machine to make clothes, men’s suits, and also a machine to make carpets from the wool.”
18. Med shot, small irrigation pipe
19. Med shot, irrigation pump
20. Med shot, irrigation channel and valley below
21. Med shot, women at village water source
22.SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Shabon Aliev, Community Leader:
“Before, everyone was drinking from same ditch, animals, people, there was no any guarantee that it’s clean.”
23. Various shots, children in orchard

Storyline

Young apricot, apple and pear trees grow in a field that Mahmadullo Nusratov and a group of villagers cleared of rocks with their bare hands.

The trees won’t fruit this season, but the fodder crop between the rows generated a profit of 300 dollars per family this year and last.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Mahmadullo Nusratov, Farmer:
“We sell the grass and its seeds. And because we feed it to our cows they produce more. My cow used to give one liter of milk a day, now she gives four. And our sheep aren’t skinny at the end of winter.”

Ten years ago, the Red River watershed and its people were ravaged by a brutal civil war and the collapse of the Soviet agrarian system.

Today trees, bees and livestock are raised again, thanks in part to a project supported by the World Bank that aims to help farmers—working in groups--to produce more and earn more while rehabilitating the ecosystem.

It’s working for Ibrohimov Nizomiddin. He heads a group of nine families who invested in raising turkeys—500 last year.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Nizomiddin Ibrohimov, turkey farmer:
“My life has improved a lot, I am out of poverty. Ten years ago, I could not afford food to eat.”

Ten years ago, people survived on humanitarian aid. And although improving, times are still tough. Nizomiddin says three quarters of his village’s men work abroad because there are no jobs here.

Why hasn’t he left?

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Nizomiddin Ibrohimov, turkey farmer:
“Because I have my business here. Those who leave Tajikistan are doing so to make money to feed their children. I can feed my own children here.”

Most women don’t have a way to earn money, either. But these three sisters created jobs for themselves and ten other women when they started this small wool processing project.

Their traditional products are in big demand. The youngest Yuldasheva sister wants to expand the business—so she’s looking for more profit or more grant money.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Zulaykho Yuldasheva, Entrepreneur:
“I have two ideas, to buy a sewing machine to make clothes, men’s suits, and also a machine to make carpets from the wool.”

Together, communities pick what will benefit them. In this village, a number of families worked together to create a small hydropower plant. In this one, they banded together to pipe water from a mile up the mountain.

SOUNDBITE (Tajik) Shabon Aliev, Community Leader:
“Before, everyone was drinking from same ditch, animals, people, there was no guarantee that it’s clean.”

Cleaner water could lead to healthier people, better cared for land through better farming and combating of erosion.