VZCZCXRO6465
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1347/01 3021022
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281022Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1094
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001347 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV EAID TI
SUBJECT: US-FUNDED AG PROGRAM PREPARES RASHT VALLEY FOR WINTER 
 
REF: 08 DUSHANBE 735 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Econoff and USAID representative traveled to the 
Rasht Valley town of Gharm, four hours northeast of Dushanbe, to 
attend an agricultural exhibition organized by USAID grantee Mercy 
Corps.  The event highlighted Mercy Corps' efforts to help residents 
increase food production and prepare for the winter by providing 
inputs and training for greenhouse construction, canning, fruit 
drying, and other skills.  With food prices soaring and harvests 
uncertain, these efforts play a vital role in improving food 
security in a region that, even after the recent visit of President 
Rahmon, remains both geographically and politically remote from the 
capital.  End Summary. 
 
FFP PROGRAM HELPING GHARM RESIDENTS PREPARE FOR WINTER 
 
¶2. (U) USAID/Food for Peace implementing partner Mercy Corps' work 
in Gharm focuses on mother/child health and agricultural practices. 
The mother and child health program offers a monthly food allotment 
to mothers who agree to have a series of pre- and post-natal 
check-ups and to take classes on nutrition and health. The primary 
goal of the agricultural program is to help the region's residents 
sustain themselves more effectively during winter by improving crop 
yields and ensuring that a greater proportion of the yield is 
available for consumption during the long winter.  The Mercy Corps 
program operates in six of Rasht District's 14 subdivisions, 
reaching more than 4,500 beneficiaries a year.  It focuses on five 
strategies: greenhouse construction, composting, improved fruit 
drying, canning, and the use of potato seeds. 
 
¶3. (U) Mercy Corps staff and volunteers are teaching residents how 
to work with potato seeds to prevent a repeat of last winter, when 
potato stores were destroyed by the record cold temperatures, 
hitting residents with a double-whammy: they lost an important 
over-winter food source as well as the means of planting this year's 
crop, which is usually done by planting potatoes from the previous 
year.  Using potato seed should free farmers from this vicious 
cycle.  Mercy Corps also helped build 2,700 greenhouses in Rasht. 
They provided the plastic sheeting and technical advice while 
residents obtained the other construction supplies and built the 
greenhouses at their own expense.  Using the greenhouses they were 
able to significantly increase crop yields for tomatoes and 
cucumbers, as well as extend the growing season.  Most of these 
vegetables were used for personal consumption. 
 
¶4. (U) According to Mercy Corps' agricultural advisor in the valley, 
residents benefited particularly from the improved drying and 
canning techniques taught through the program.  Mercy Corps provided 
residents with 42,000 canning jars, but in a subsequent evaluation 
discovered that the practice had spread widely, and some 126,000 
jars were actually used.  Additionally, some 99 tons of fruit -- the 
Rasht ValleyQs main crop -- were dried for use over the winter, and 
1,000 people were actively composting. 
 
¶5. (U) The new techniques were highlighted in an agricultural 
exhibition on October 22 in Gharm's House of Culture that drew 
between 100 and 150 visitors.  The event included speakers and 
exhibits demonstrating the techniques.  The Deputy Head of Rasht 
District, Loiqov Qanoatshoh, spent the majority of his time praising 
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who had visited the valley earlier 
in the month (reftel), for improving agriculture in the region, but 
concluded by asking for more USG support.  He said he would like to 
see an additional 2,000 people engaged in agricultural production in 
the district (whose population is over 90,000), and the construction 
Qthe district (whose population is over 90,000), and the construction 
of facilities for juice production and leather and wool processing. 
He hoped to see the expansion of the program into Rasht's remaining 
8 sub-districts (jamoats) as well. 
 
BUT OUTLOOK REMAINS PRECARIOUS 
 
¶6. (U) Food prices in Gharm, as in much of Tajikistan, are 
significantly higher than last year.  Residents said that a 50-kg 
bag of flour sells for between 35 and 37 USD, compared to 16 USD 
last year.  (Econoff confirmed prices in the local market.)  Despite 
last winter's calamitous conditions, this year's harvests have not 
been disastrous: Mercy Corps staff said potato yields have been 
about average, or slightly below, while there was a bumper crop of 
apples, for which Rasht is locally renowned.  The pear crop mostly 
failed this year, however.  The addition of greenhouse-grown 
vegetables and dried fruit has provided many residents with a hedge 
against another bad winter.  One animated beneficiary took the 
microphone at the exhibition to boast that she had prepared some two 
tons of fruit for drying.  When asked whether she would sell the 
surplus she laughed and said no, this would be her personal supply 
of "glucose for the winter." 
 
PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO GHARM: SHOWCASE OR DOG AND PONY SHOW? 
 
¶7. (U) Travel from Dushanbe to Gharm took about four hours, along a 
road being improved by Chinese laborers as part of an Asian 
 
DUSHANBE 00001347  002 OF 002 
 
 
Development Bank project.  The first stretch of 100 kilometers from 
Dushanbe to the town of Obi Garm is complete, while the remaining 
100 km is mostly gravel and tattered asphalt.  Several Chinese road 
crews were at work near the approaches to Gharm, leveling the 
roadbed and building small bridges. 
 
¶8. (U) On the face of it, Gharm residents were enthusiastic about 
the recent visit of President Rahmon.  Several of those questioned 
said they enjoyed the accompanying fireworks display and dance 
performances, and were happy for the tractors and other supplies the 
President brought.  Some raised their eyebrows, however, at the 
lavish production of the visit, wondering whether a contingent of 
ambulances and a retinue of 7,000 visitors -- equal to the town's 
population -- were really necessary. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment: The Rasht valley is one of the poorer places in 
Tajikistan and its resident struggle along with little support from 
the government.  Because of its history as a center of 
anti-government sentiment, Gharm's economic conditions may have a 
significance outweighing the town's status as a small regional 
center.  While the President pulled out all the stops to ensure a 
successful and fanfare-laden visit this month, another bad winter 
could leave the valley even further alienated.  Both direct 
beneficiaries and the regional leadership see the 
Food-For-Peace-funded program as a success in providing sorely 
needed support to the area.  Local leaders pointedly asked what more 
could be done to increase food security in the region.  This modest 
effort not only supports a vulnerable population; it also allows us 
to monitor both the humanitarian situation in a remote part of the 
country and to check the political pulse of a sensitive region. 
 
JACOBSON