VZCZCXRO7589
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0316/01 0711352
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121352Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0148
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0046
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0021
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY 0006
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 0227

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000316 
 
SIPDIS 
 
ALMATY FOR USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN EAGR TI
SUBJECT: FOOD DISTRIBUTION PEACEFUL BUT POVERTY STRIKING IN SOUTHERN 
TAJIKISTAN 
 
REF: DUSHANBE 245 
 
DUSHANBE 00000316  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Summary: USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) 
provided Tajikistan with $3.35 million for emergency winter food 
distribution for the most vulnerable in Tajikistan.  On March 5, 
Ambassador Jacobson visited Vaksh village in Khatlon province in 
Southern Tajikistan to see food being distributed by implementer 
Save the Children.  Although some men were present at the event, 
it was only a handful compared to the previous week's 
distribution in Hiloli village (reftel).  Further, the severity 
of poverty in the community was clear, with over 50% of village 
inhabitants receiving food.  The anger over perceived inequity 
in food distribution witnessed during Assistance Coordinator Dan 
Rosenblum's visit was not evident this time. End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2. With over $3  million  of funding from USAID's OFDA, the USG, 
through implementers Mercy Corps and Save the Children, is 
distributing food to vulnerable families in some of the most 
food-insecure rural areas of Tajikistan.  The funding buys 
flour, cooking oil and lentils in the region.  Implementers 
worked with local governments to identify the most vulnerable 
areas and the most vulnerable households in those areas. 
Criteria for assessing vulnerability of households included 
those headed by women, headed by pensioners, with children under 
two, the homeless, and the disabled without a source of regular 
income or major assets. 
 
 
 
¶3. On March 6, Ambassador Jacobson attended a food distribution 
in Vaksh village in the Khatlon province in southern Tajikistan. 
 Vaksh village is an area without irrigation that depends on 
rain for agricultural production and drinking water.  Of 13,000 
people living in the village, 50% are qualified as vulnerable 
and eligible for food aid. 
 
 
 
¶4. As in most rural areas, nearly every family has had one or 
more members migrate to Russia for work and to send back money. 
Usually when visiting such villages, we see lots of women and 
children and few older men.  Although the previous week's visit 
to a nearby village found a large crowd of men (reftel), the 
Vaksh visit was similar to the usual experience.  Around 200 
people were waiting in line for their ration of wheat flour, 
lentils, and oil.  They were predominantly women and older men 
with perhaps 15 younger men.  The scene was active, with many 
carts running this way and that, heavy with their loads of food. 
 The crowd seemed excited and upbeat.  There was no incident 
similar to the small scuffle seen earlier (reftel). 
 
 
 
¶5. Despite the happy scene at the distribution site, the visit 
revealed clear signs of the increasing and crushing poverty of 
rural Tajikistan.  The local Jamoat (sub-district government) 
official estimated that half of the 11,000 migrant workers from 
her area would not return to work in Russia in the spring, as 
they have in the past.  Remittances from these workers in Russia 
are an essential source of income for Tajik families, and their 
decline will cause a sharp increase in the number of people who 
require aid. 
 
 
 
¶6. After visiting the distribution site, Ambassador Jacobson 
toured a former technical high school dormitory converted into 
housing for the poor, all of whom received food from the OFDA 
program.  Fifty families now live in the facility, which has no 
electricity, no water, and no glass in any windows.  Those with 
slightly more resources covered their windows with plastic 
sheeting to provide some minimal protection from the elements. 
One woman opened her door and invited the Ambassador in.  The 
apartment was home to the woman, her day-laborer husband, and 
seven children.  It consisted of two small rooms and a hall - 
all together they were smaller than an Embassy Dushanbe office. 
The only heating came from a small wood-burning stove in the 
smaller of the two rooms.  Residents of this dormitory were 
particularly vulnerable to economic shocks because they lacked 
gardens and could not grow any of their own food. 
 
 
DUSHANBE 00000316  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
 
¶6. Comment: The food security issues in Vaksh, just as those in 
Hiloli, demonstrate the continued negative impact from last 
year's harsh winter.  The community was clearly worried about 
the decline in remittances, and we will continue to monitor the 
rates of remittances closely, particularly how many migrants 
return to Russia this spring.  The visit was also a grim 
reminder of the depth of poverty in Tajikistan, where villages 
such as this one dot the countryside. 
JACOBSON