Saving harvest of the orchards through drying (طاجيكستان)

Gardeners in different ways store apples, pears, pomegranates, grapes and nuts for winter, but the main part of the harvest used for the animals. Proposed approach help land users to save all the harvest using drying methods.

People usually used fresh fruits and store it in a different way for the winter. Therefore, to preserve freshness and juiciness, apples and granates reserved them in jars.There are many opportunities for drying fruits in Safedshahrak village of Lohuti jamoat. The village has more than 10 hectares of orchards. The village is located far from the district center at a distance of 18 km, in the north-east part of the district and at an altitude of 1300 m. The climate is humid and with abundant rainfall. Local people are mainly engaged in growing potatoes, gardening and livestock breeding. Industrial enterprises do not function in the district. A small number of women study at Medical College and a vocational technical school or attend a special high and secondary schools in Dushanbe to get any skills. However, working places are only available in the central district hospital and general education schools for 5-6% of the total number of qualified women.

The project provides small-scale grants at the village level for groups of households to implement rural production and land management investments, as well as related small-scale infrastructure investments.Villages will prioritize investments based on a fixed budget for each type of rural investment, determined by the number of households
The CIG established in Safedshahrak village, which consisted of 25 members, and they recognize their work on drying fruits as an advantage in the first place. With the support of the project, the CIG was purchased and installed tools and equipment for drying fruit, and put production into operation.
Abdukodir Gozaev, a head of CIG, made all preparations for the construction of a warehouse for drying fruits, organized work on harvesting and drying fruit according to the plan. As a result, the rural people collected 60 tons of fresh fruit, which were dried. There are 3.5 tons of dried apples, 3.5 tons of cherries, 1 ton of rose hips and 0.5 tons of plums in the group's warehouse. Collected products were sold, and the sale profit was TJS 21950 (2,488$). The CIG head paid to the population from the funds received after the sale. In the future, he intends to prepare special boxes and sell them with packed dried fruit. This type of activity will give the opportunity to adapt their products to market requirements