Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Duration: 2010-2015
Region: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Country: Tajikistan
Solutions: Economic Growth
Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia, with 49 percent of its rural population living below the poverty line. Approximately 73 percent of the country’s 8.2 million citizens live in rural areas, where paid jobs are scarce and the average amount of arable land held per person is 0.11 hectares. While 46.5 percent of the overall population is employed in agriculture, productivity in the sector is low and represents only 21 percent of national GDP.
Despite rising food prices, the food security situation in Tajikistan has generally improved in recent years, largely due to high levels of remittances from Tajiks working abroad in Russia. However, food security remains a significant concern; 22 percent of households were severely or moderately food insecure as of November 2012. The 2012 Tajikistan Demographic and Health Survey indicates 26 percent of children below the age of 5 were stunted, 10 percent were wasted, and 12 percent were underweight.
The USAID Family Farming Program (FFP), under the Feed the Future initiative, worked to reduce poverty through improved nutrition and inclusive agricultural growth in 12 target districts in Khatlon province. FFP’s efforts were largely focused on providing support to Water Users Associations (WUA) to improve their ability to manage irrigation water resources. FFP’s work in organizing and strengthening WUAs, as well as work in rehabilitating irrigation infrastructure, directly impacted the availability of irrigation water, thereby boosting agricultural production. Increased production enhances the availability of food as well as producers’ income, which improves food security and promotes inclusive agricultural growth in the targeted districts. FFP’s work in improving household economics, disseminating agricultural production guides, and supporting irrigation water management policy reform also supported the project’s primary objective of improving agricultural production and access to food.
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