Apricot production grows in Tajikistan

KHUDZHAND –Tajikistan is looking to bolster its apricot production and move up on the list of the world’s top apricot producers.

Last year, the country produced at least 100,000 tonnes of apricots (not including output from private farms), but “Sughd Oblast alone could produce at least 500,000 tonnes annually,” Tajik agricultural scientist Todzhiboi Boimatov said.

In 2011, Tajikistan exported more than 82,000 tonnes of fresh and dried fruit, two-thirds of which (55,000 tonnes) were apricots, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

If private transactions are counted, the amount of exports would nearly double, Bobodzhon Ikromov, editor-in-chief of the Khudzhand newspaper Varorud, said. “Tajikistan truly has the potential to be the world’s third-largest apricot producer,” he said.

Turkey currently leads the world with production at 650,000 tonnes in 2011, according to the UN. But its output has fallen from 716,000 tonnes in 2008 due to earthquakes and other factors, according to FAOStat, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN.

Conversely, Tajikistan’s production has increased since 2008, when it produced only 26,000 tonnes and was ranked 24th internationally. For 2011, the country is expected to be ranked among the top 15 apricot producers, according to the UN.

Apricots could become Tajikistan’s main export product, surpassing aluminium and cotton, Boimatov said.

From cotton monoculture to horticulture

Converting cotton acreage to food crops would not only bring in hard currency to Tajikistan – the country received US $49m (232m TJS) from apricot exports in 2010, the World Trade Organisation said – but would save money and water, a scarce natural resource in Central Asia, Tajik scientists contend.

“Since Tajikistan is a largely agrarian country, we must determine the agricultural sector’s priorities,” foreign trade scholar Azam Murtazayev said. “The development of horticulture and the construction of small, flexible enterprises for fruit processing can bring much more revenue than producing cotton.”

Plant breeder Bakhodur Toshmatov agreed that the country should turn its focus away from cotton and on to fruits and vegetables.

“It's time to significantly reduce the area allocated to cotton and to start developing traditional industries such as horticulture, and to do it on an industrial scale,” Toshmatov said. “Since apricots are so well-adjusted to our climatic conditions, we should focus on expanding the apricot plantations.”

Horticulture requires less money but more diligence from farmers, as “the farmer must ... give (his plants) constant care and attention,” he added.

Authorities expand Sughd apricot cultivation, improve quality

As of 2012 48,849ha in Sughd Oblast were devoted to fruit and vegetable farming (excluding private plots), with 40,362ha for apricots, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Every year, the acreage devoted to fruits and vegetables grows nationwide, said Furkat Gulomov, chief of the Agriculture Ministry’s fruit, vegetable and potato department. In 2011, the area for apricot farming alone expanded by 4,220ha.

Last year Austria, Germany, the EU and the UN began to help Tajik farmers implement new technologies for drying apricots and create mini-processing plants for the harvested fruit. Such efforts have quickly upgraded farmers’ production and improved the fruit’s visual appeal, leading to more foreign orders.

“After studying the needs of the markets in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and the Baltics,” said Abdulatif Ortikov, head of the marketing department at Baraka, “we decided that Tajik apricots lack only one thing: visual appeal. With the introduction of new technologies, we can now be worthy competitors. ... The unique taste of Tajik apricots is an additional bonus, which will eventually work in our favour.”

Last season, Baraka alone exported 1,400 tonnes of apricots, almost double its 2010 exports.