Import Dependency Threatens Food Security
Import Dependency Threatens Food Security
Tajikistan looks set to meet its target for this year’s grain harvest, but NBCentralAsia analysts say that it will still not be enough to meet domestic needs and the government must reduce its dependence on imports by reforming agriculture at home.
The agriculture ministry has said farmers are on course to meet this year’s state target of around 500,000 tons of grain, according to reports from the Asia Plus news agency.
But official statistics show that Tajikistan needs 800,000 tons of grain to feed its people, plus a further 700,000 tons for livestock fodder.
Domestic harvests do not even meet half of the country’s needs and some 700,000 tons of grain is imported every year, mainly from Kazakhstan.
More than 60 per cent of the population lives on less than one US dollar a day, and cheap bread and other grain products make up the bulk of people’s diet.
This summer, a general rise in world grain prices and a lull in flour milling during the harvest season forced up the price of flour in Tajikistan by almost 40 per cent, leaving many families without enough food.
Analysts polled by NBCentralAsia say that Tajikistan must reduce its dependency on food imports and bring domestic agriculture up to modern standards to guarantee affordable food supplies.
Farrukh Abduvaseyev, an expert from Tajikistan’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences, says the country’s heavy reliance on imports is making the domestic food crisis worse. Imports are seen as an alternative to domestic production and so very little is being done to develop the agricultural sector.
Saodat Soibnazarova, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic Studies, explains that the quality of people’s diet has declined since staple foodstuffs like bread became more expensive.
The state lacks the resources to increase grain production, and this is unlikely to increase in the next few years, she said.
Murod Aminjanov, an analyst with a European Union project supporting state agricultural policy, explains that grain from Tajikistan is poor quality because of the hot climate, declining milling industry and backward farming methods. Even so, he argues that local producers could grow enough good quality grain to feed the whole country if the entire sector underwent reform.
Many farmers do not know how to tend crops properly or have enough experienced hands to help, explains NBCentralAsia economic analyst Hojimahmad Umarov. The irrigation system is also poor in many areas and farmers do not always have access to fertilisers.
Aminjanov says farmers need to be taught how to use modern farming methods, and to be given better machinery, irrigation and higher quality seeds to work with.
The estimated cost of the kind of agricultural reforms that could allow Tajikistan to meet its own food needs is put at at least a billion dollars.
(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)
The agriculture ministry has said farmers are on course to meet this year’s state target of around 500,000 tons of grain, according to reports from the Asia Plus news agency.
But official statistics show that Tajikistan needs 800,000 tons of grain to feed its people, plus a further 700,000 tons for livestock fodder.
Domestic harvests do not even meet half of the country’s needs and some 700,000 tons of grain is imported every year, mainly from Kazakhstan.
More than 60 per cent of the population lives on less than one US dollar a day, and cheap bread and other grain products make up the bulk of people’s diet.
This summer, a general rise in world grain prices and a lull in flour milling during the harvest season forced up the price of flour in Tajikistan by almost 40 per cent, leaving many families without enough food.
Analysts polled by NBCentralAsia say that Tajikistan must reduce its dependency on food imports and bring domestic agriculture up to modern standards to guarantee affordable food supplies.
Farrukh Abduvaseyev, an expert from Tajikistan’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences, says the country’s heavy reliance on imports is making the domestic food crisis worse. Imports are seen as an alternative to domestic production and so very little is being done to develop the agricultural sector.
Saodat Soibnazarova, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic Studies, explains that the quality of people’s diet has declined since staple foodstuffs like bread became more expensive.
The state lacks the resources to increase grain production, and this is unlikely to increase in the next few years, she said.
Murod Aminjanov, an analyst with a European Union project supporting state agricultural policy, explains that grain from Tajikistan is poor quality because of the hot climate, declining milling industry and backward farming methods. Even so, he argues that local producers could grow enough good quality grain to feed the whole country if the entire sector underwent reform.
Many farmers do not know how to tend crops properly or have enough experienced hands to help, explains NBCentralAsia economic analyst Hojimahmad Umarov. The irrigation system is also poor in many areas and farmers do not always have access to fertilisers.
Aminjanov says farmers need to be taught how to use modern farming methods, and to be given better machinery, irrigation and higher quality seeds to work with.
The estimated cost of the kind of agricultural reforms that could allow Tajikistan to meet its own food needs is put at at least a billion dollars.
(NBCentralAsia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region)
