The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the dangers to at-risk groups as migrants have become stranded along borders or in foreign countries without work and resources. Many people have not been able to travel for seasonal work or to travel to locations with more opportunities. This puts people, like Razia, at high risk for exploitation. Traffickers take advantage of the lack of knowledge and desperate situation many have found themselves in due to the pandemic. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions, the USAID-funded Safe Migration in Central Asia project is working to provide migrants with information to protect themselves and avoid potential exploitation.

In June 2019, the USAID Agribusiness Competitiveness activity conducted a training on fruit tree grafting for 38 orchard farmers, managers of nurseries, including women and young grafters. Participants learned how to graft peach, persimmon and pistachio trees. Mavjigul was one of the most active participants. She was thrilled to improve her sapling growing skills. “We used to only graft lemons and local fruit trees. Thanks to USAID, I have learned how to graft pistachios and persimmons trees too. I learned cleavage grafting which is very different and more effective than our old methods,” says Mavjigul.