Project description / objective
MDRD aims to accelerate growth in the agricultural sector to enable inclusive access to economic opportunities for farmers, youth and women in rural communities in Tajikistan, while supporting the adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
Market system focus
Vegetables
Tomato and onion mainly cater to the domestic market, with the market drivers being traders and wholesalers.
There is strong potential for strengthening the competitiveness of these sectors through promoting climate-smart practices as well as integrating women into value-added processing.
Fruits
Apricots and grapes have competitive advantages and a solid domestic and export track record.
In 2021, over 43,000 MT of fresh fruit was exported from Tajikistan, amounting to USD $30 million , and 41,397 MT of dried fruits, amounting to USD $15.553 million. Over 100,000 farmers are engaged in the apricot value chain of which 45% per cent are women. About 20-30 per cent of apricots are sold fresh and the rest is dried. About 6,000 farmers are involved in grape production (40 per cent women) and only about 20 per cent of grapes produced are dried.
Specialty Crops
Berries, cherries, maize, and nuts have a strong competitive advantages for early-season varieties.
Approximately 500 farmers, with over 50% being women, are engaged in berry farming in Tajikistan, mainly strawberries (300 ha women-owned). They annually harvest and sell over 3,000 MT of fresh berries domestically. Raspberries, blackberries, mulberries, and wild berries are also common. Blueberries are rare. Walnuts, almonds, peanuts, and apricot kernels are popular, with 30,000 ha walnut forests producing 3,000 tons annually. Tajikistan has 78,900 ha of pistachio trees, mainly wild, and 2020 almond production was 3,300 tons. Improving cold chain management, enhancing access to drying tech, and reducing berry losses in export markets are key goals for the sector's development.
Dairy
The dairy sector has a strong potential for in-country value addition, particularly for women and youth processors, with additional opportunities to address feed as an input into the dairy system.
The development of the dairy sector in Tajikistan is constrained by the high fragmentation of raw milk supply, as more than 80 per cent of milk is produced in households. This is a predominately female-led sector, with upwards of 70 per cent of the roles and functions in the dairy value chain occupied by women. MDRD will be working to a) integrate livestock feed producers into the dairy value chain to expand access of feed among milk producers, and b) create modern milk collection and cooling points close to milk producers. The proposed solutions can solve problems with access to livestock food and allow local women and youth to sell milk directly at an attractive price close to the household daily. In turn, milk processors will have a stable supply of milk in the right volume and quality.
Programme interventions
For all market systems - vegetables, fruits, speciality crops and dairy:
Planned interventions include:
- Working with interested financial institutions to help develop financial products, including a credit line for farmers to access inputs.
- Working with exporters to build their capacity and increase their sourcing from farmers.
- Supporting the establishment of commercial nurseries to increased access to quality inputs; supporting initiatives to improve services related to harvesting, sorting, grading for fresh fruits and for dried fruits, and any activities related to improving drying technologies and product aggregation at farmer level; supporting, and assessing, the expansion of equipment leasing (drip irrigation, greenhouses, etc.)
- Supporting the establishment of last mile solutions to promote increased access to inputs and relevant information.
- Supporting the establishment of innovative climate smart practices to increase yields whilst reducing emissions in selected agriculture sectors.
- Facilitating linkages between selected qualified business development service providers to work closely with financial institutions to help build capacity of interested SMEs; supporting SMEs to become investment-ready.
- Promoting Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GYSI) and climate-smart products/models, including organic farming and vermi-compost production; supporting access to high-quality, efficient and labour-saving tools and equipment for women and youth.
- Supporting businesses to comply, and adhere to, international certification standards; help to improve logistics and transportation services.
- Improving access to childcare services; raising awareness of gender-based violence amongst MDRD partners.
Notable results (systemic change, poverty impact)
For year 1:
- More than USD $70,000 investment leveraged by the private sector through MDRD support.
- An MDRD partner provided approximately USD $45,000 in loans and leasing on agriculture.
- More than 40 companies in Tajikistan received technical assistance from the programme. 13 per cent of them have already shown improvements including in: internal management; supply chains; access to new markets; and access to finance.
- 125 farmers, fruits and vegetables processing companies, workers and agripreneurs in Tajikistan applied improved management practices or technologies with MDRD’s assistance.
- Around 200 farmers, fruits and vegetables processing companies, workers and agripreneurs in Tajikistan began adapting to the effects of climate change through food safety management, post-harvest management, and cold storage management.
- Out of all the beneficiaries of MDRD interventions in Year I, 50 per cent are women, 14 per cent are youth.
[uploaded January 2024]
Update note (2025):
MDRD ended in early 2025, cut short by the U.S. administration's suspension and dismantling of USAID.