DUSHANBE, October 24, 2012, Asia-Plus – “In the twenty years of partnership between the U.S. Government and the Government of Tajikistan, we have been impressed with the strength and skills of people across the country. We want to take a moment to acknowledge their hard work and the many things we’ve learned from our partnership together. Here are some of the stories that have inspired us,” press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe on October 23 said.
“Dilafruz Subhonqulova received training from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on greenhouse construction, poultry farming, canning and preserving fruits and vegetables, and collecting and storing vegetable seeds. She taught her newly acquired skills to 36 other women of Kashot village in the Jirgatol district. “Every woman in the group, including myself, earned between $228-342 per month from selling our greenhouse products.” Over the next five years, an estimated 201,000 local smallholder farmers will receive assistance through USAID’s Feed the Future program to escape poverty and under-nutrition.
“Hoji Mirzo Ismailov is a partner of USAID’s Productive Agriculture Project, which increases farmers’ incomes by promoting best practices. Ismailov expects to harvest 20 tons of premium tomatoes that can sell for 50 percent more than tomatoes grown using other methods. “It has been a great opportunity to work with USAID because we share similar goals to develop the agriculture sector in Tajikistan,” he said during a recent visit with local government officials.
“Another way that we are working together for increased regional stability is to improve economic growth and trade. USAID has helped facilitate over $2.5 million in trade deals for Tajik companies. When USAID focused on strengthening microfinance systems, participating banks quadrupled their portfolios to $7.1 million. The U.S. Government has worked with its donor partners and Tajikistan’s Customs Service to implement a Unified Automated Information System. Use of the electronic system has cut the preparation time for a customs declaration from three hours to three minutes. In the first seven months, the declarations prepared using the automated system improved the acceptance rate from 1 percent to 99 percent.
“This month, the American people will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the FREEDOM Support Act, which provided assistance to countries emerging from the former Soviet Union. Since 1992, the U.S. Government has provided more than $984 million in development assistance to Tajikistan. The gains we have made by working together have been significant, but there is more that we can do. We look forward to continuing this important partnership with the government and the people of Tajikistan in order to ensure a stable and prosperous future for all.”
