Almond seedlings production in a backyard nursery (Daler Domullodzhanov)

Production of drought-resistant fruit seedlings by women's groups. (Tajikistan)

Истеҳсоли ниҳолҳои дарахтони ба хушкӣ тобовар ва мевадиҳанда аз ҷониби гуруҳи занон.

Description

Drought-resistant fruit seedlings are being produced by vulnerable, women-led households in backyard nurseries. These will be planted out in agroforestry plots within the dry agrolandscapes of Southern Tajikistan.

The availability of high-quality and drought-resistant fruit tree saplings is a major constraint to establishing agroforestry plots in the extremely dry agrolandscapes of Southern Tajikistan. While productive, these trees - Almonds, Apricots and Peaches - planted in agroforestry systems can help fight desertification through stabilizing slopes and reducing soil erosion. The FAO/GEF financed CACILM2 project promotes the establishment of backyard nurseries through farmer groups, formed in the targeted districts. The FAO project has coached women's group members to establish nurseries in their kitchen gardens. Season-long training workshops were held for groups of farmers (dominated by women) starting from the selection of better adapted, more productive, drought-resistant varieties. Training was also given on planting/transplanting, grafting, applying fertilizers and preparation of seedlings for transplantation. Farmer groups members have established nurseries in their kitchen gardens on plots of 200-300 square metres: each square metre can produce 20-30 grafted seedlings.

Location

Location: Mushkurut village, Khatlon region, A. Jomi district, Tajikistan

No. of Technology sites analysed: 2-10 sites

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 68.72775, 37.93666

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (approx. < 0.1 km2 (10 ha))

In a permanently protected area?: No

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Practical training in grafting (Farhod Mavlonov)
Grafted seedlings of drought resistant trees (Marufqul Mahkamov)

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use
Land use mixed within the same land unit: No

  • Other - Specify: Kitchen garden plots
Water supply
  • rainfed
  • mixed rainfed-irrigated
  • full irrigation
Purpose related to land degradation
  • prevent land degradation
  • reduce land degradation
  • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
  • adapt to land degradation
  • not applicable
Degradation addressed
  • soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion, Wg: gully erosion/ gullying
  • soil erosion by wind - Et: loss of topsoil, Ed: deflation and deposition
SLM group
  • agroforestry
  • windbreak/ shelterbelt
  • home gardens
SLM measures
  • vegetative measures - V1: Tree and shrub cover
  • management measures - M1: Change of land use type

Technical drawing

Technical specifications
The total area under 11 rows (4 m x 20m = 80, 5m x 40m = 200) occupied for the seedling production is 280 m2.
Author: Marufqul Mahkamov

Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

Calculation of inputs and costs
  • Costs are calculated: per Technology area (size and area unit: 280 sq m)
  • Currency used for cost calculation: USD
  • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = n.a
  • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: n.a
Most important factors affecting the costs
High inflation rate
Establishment activities
  1. Plowing of the land by hand (Timing/ frequency: April)
  2. Preparing the rows for the planting (Timing/ frequency: April)
  3. Planting by hand (Timing/ frequency: April)
  4. Inter-row cultivation (Timing/ frequency: May)
  5. First time application of fertilizers, by hand (Timing/ frequency: May - June)
  6. Mannual weeding (Timing/ frequency: June - July)
  7. Second time application of fertilizers, by hand (Timing/ frequency: July)
  8. Monitoring and providing consultations (Timing/ frequency: March-September)
  9. Grafting (Timing/ frequency: June-July)
  10. Recording activities in a field book (Timing/ frequency: March-September)
Establishment inputs and costs (per 280 sq m)
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (USD) Total costs per input (USD) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Plowing of the land by hand, preparing the rows for the planting and planting seeds by hand man days 2.5 50.0 125.0 100.0
Inter row cultivation and manual weeding man days 1.8 30.0 54.0 100.0
Two times application of fertilizers, by hand man days 1.0 10.0 10.0 100.0
Grafting man days 1.4 50.0 70.0
Equipment
Grafting tools set 1.0 20.0 20.0
Plant material
Seed of almond, apricot and peach kg 11.3 10.0 113.0
Fertilizers and biocides
Mineral fertilizers kg 45.3 0.7 31.71
Other
Monitoring and providing consultations man days 0.5 50.0 25.0
Recording the activities realization in the field book man days 1.0 20.0 20.0 100.0
Arranging of training on backyard nursery man days 1.0 50.0 50.0
Total costs for establishment of the Technology 518.71
Total costs for establishment of the Technology in USD 518.71
Maintenance activities
  1. Inter row cultivation (Timing/ frequency: May)
  2. First time application of fertilizers, by hand (Timing/ frequency: May - June)
  3. Mannual weeding (Timing/ frequency: June - July)
  4. Second time application of fertilizers, by hand (Timing/ frequency: July)
  5. Monitoring and providing consultations (Timing/ frequency: March - September)
  6. Recording the activities realization in the field book (Timing/ frequency: March - September)
Maintenance inputs and costs (per 280 sq m)
Specify input Unit Quantity Costs per Unit (USD) Total costs per input (USD) % of costs borne by land users
Labour
Inter row cultivation and mannual weeding man days 1.8 30.0 54.0 100.0
Two times application of fertilizers, by hand man days 1.0 10.0 10.0 100.0
Monitoring and providing consultations man days 0.5 50.0 25.0 100.0
Recording the activities realization in the field book man days 1.0 20.0 20.0 100.0
Fertilizers and biocides
Mineral fertilizers kg 45.3 0.7 31.71 100.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology 140.71
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology in USD 140.71

Natural environment

Average annual rainfall
  • < 250 mm
  • 251-500 mm
  • 501-750 mm
  • 751-1,000 mm
  • 1,001-1,500 mm
  • 1,501-2,000 mm
  • 2,001-3,000 mm
  • 3,001-4,000 mm
  • > 4,000 mm
Agro-climatic zone
  • humid
  • sub-humid
  • semi-arid
  • arid
Specifications on climate
Average annual rainfall in mm: 455.0
Slope
  • flat (0-2%)
  • gentle (3-5%)
  • moderate (6-10%)
  • rolling (11-15%)
  • hilly (16-30%)
  • steep (31-60%)
  • very steep (>60%)
Landforms
  • plateau/plains
  • ridges
  • mountain slopes
  • hill slopes
  • footslopes
  • valley floors
Altitude
  • 0-100 m a.s.l.
  • 101-500 m a.s.l.
  • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
  • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
  • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
  • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
  • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
  • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
  • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
Technology is applied in
  • convex situations
  • concave situations
  • not relevant
Soil depth
  • very shallow (0-20 cm)
  • shallow (21-50 cm)
  • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
  • deep (81-120 cm)
  • very deep (> 120 cm)
Soil texture (topsoil)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
  • coarse/ light (sandy)
  • medium (loamy, silty)
  • fine/ heavy (clay)
Topsoil organic matter content
  • high (>3%)
  • medium (1-3%)
  • low (<1%)
Groundwater table
  • on surface
  • < 5 m
  • 5-50 m
  • > 50 m
Availability of surface water
  • excess
  • good
  • medium
  • poor/ none
Water quality (untreated)
  • good drinking water
  • poor drinking water (treatment required)
  • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
  • unusable
Water quality refers to: ground water
Is salinity a problem?
  • Yes
  • No

Occurrence of flooding
  • Yes
  • No
Species diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low
Habitat diversity
  • high
  • medium
  • low

Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Market orientation
  • subsistence (self-supply)
  • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
  • commercial/ market
Off-farm income
  • less than 10% of all income
  • 10-50% of all income
  • > 50% of all income
Relative level of wealth
  • very poor
  • poor
  • average
  • rich
  • very rich
Level of mechanization
  • manual work
  • animal traction
  • mechanized/ motorized
Sedentary or nomadic
  • Sedentary
  • Semi-nomadic
  • Nomadic
Individuals or groups
  • individual/ household
  • groups/ community
  • cooperative
  • employee (company, government)
Gender
  • women
  • men
Age
  • children
  • youth
  • middle-aged
  • elderly
Area used per household
  • < 0.5 ha
  • 0.5-1 ha
  • 1-2 ha
  • 2-5 ha
  • 5-15 ha
  • 15-50 ha
  • 50-100 ha
  • 100-500 ha
  • 500-1,000 ha
  • 1,000-10,000 ha
  • > 10,000 ha
Scale
  • small-scale
  • medium-scale
  • large-scale
Land ownership
  • state
  • company
  • communal/ village
  • group
  • individual, not titled
  • individual, titled
Land use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Water use rights
  • open access (unorganized)
  • communal (organized)
  • leased
  • individual
Access to services and infrastructure
health

poor
x
good
education

poor
x
good
technical assistance

poor
x
good
employment (e.g. off-farm)

poor
x
good
markets

poor
x
good
energy

poor
x
good
roads and transport

poor
x
good
drinking water and sanitation

poor
x
good
financial services

poor
x
good

Impacts

Socio-economic impacts
expenses on agricultural inputs
increased
x
decreased

Quantity before SLM: HIgh
Quantity after SLM: Low
The cost of seedlings decreased

farm income
decreased
x
increased

Quantity before SLM: Low
Quantity after SLM: High
The income from the kitchen garden increased.

Socio-cultural impacts
Ecological impacts
drought impacts
increased
x
decreased

Quantity before SLM: Low
Quantity after SLM: High
The farmers produce drought-resistant seedlings to enhance farmers' resistance to climate change challenges.

Off-site impacts
impact of greenhouse gases
increased
x
reduced

Quantity before SLM: low
Quantity after SLM: high
The produced seedlings will help to establish and increase the agroforestry area, and will decrease GHG emissions.

Cost-benefit analysis

Benefits compared with establishment costs
Short-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Benefits compared with maintenance costs
Short-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Long-term returns
very negative
x
very positive

Climate change

Climate-related extremes (disasters)
local hailstorm

not well at all
x
very well
local snowstorm

not well at all
x
very well
local windstorm

not well at all
x
very well
heatwave

not well at all
x
very well
drought

not well at all
x
very well
forest fire

not well at all
x
very well
landslide

not well at all
x
very well

Adoption and adaptation

Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
  • single cases/ experimental
  • 1-10%
  • 11-50%
  • > 50%
Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
  • 0-10%
  • 11-50%
  • 51-90%
  • 91-100%
Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
  • Yes
  • No
To which changing conditions?
  • climatic change/ extremes
  • changing markets
  • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

Conclusions and lessons learnt

Strengths: land user's view
  • The ToT training workshops for promotors and best female farmers on the topics of establishing backyard nurseries were delivered to enable the active farmers from the different districts to continue the promotion of the techniques.
  • The production of drought-resistant and fruit seedlings is diversifying income-generating activities in the kitchen garden plots.
Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
  • Partial provision of the agriculture inputs for free can negatively affect the promotion of the best SLM techniques after the project life span. To find a co-financing source and/or to increase the co-financing ratio by the farmers.
  • As the growing period of seedlings is 2-3 years, despite high-level payback it takes a long to receive the first income. To find another source of income for vulnerable families. To get microcredits to cover the financial shortage.
Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome

References

Compiler
  • Daler Domullodzhanov
Editors
Reviewer
  • William Critchley
  • Rima Mekdaschi Studer
Date of documentation: Feb. 6, 2022
Last update: March 2, 2022
Resource persons
Full description in the WOCAT database
Linked SLM data
Documentation was faciliated by
Institution Project
Key references
  • Regular CACILM2 project's Bullitin "Dialogue": It is free publication and available in the FAO web site
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International