On August 9, 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic, the National Agrarian University, village agricultural consultancies, and a number of agricultural producers accepted receipt of new learning materials to help Kyrgyzstani farmers learn modern techniques for fruit, vegetable, and milk production.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) created the videos and manuals based on its experiences training tens of thousands of farmers over the course of its Agro Horizon Project in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh, Jalal-Abad, Batken, and Naryn Oblasts. Through hundreds of training sessions, USAID’s experts identified points where the majority of farmers lack best-practices and can take simple measures to improve productivity and raise incomes.

Using these free resources, farmers can find insights, advice and tips on growing, storing and processing some of the most common vegetable and fruit varieties in Kyrgyzstan: apricots, garlic, peaches, apples, etc.  The videos and manuals are in Kyrgyz language.  All of them are publicly available at no cost on USAID/Kyrgyz Republic’s YouTube channel and website, in addition to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Agrarian University.

USAID’s Agro Horizon Project is a four-year program working to increase smallholder farmers’ incomes by improving productivity and expanding Kyrgyz producers’ reach to local and international markets.  The project has supported 90,000 small holder farmers and partnered with over 50 businesses in the country to improve agricultural production in Kyrgyzstan.