Mavjigul Qurbonova lives in Frunze village of Balkhi district in southern Tajikistan. Mavjigul is 58 years old and has six children that she has been raising by herself for the past 15 years. She worked for 35 years at an orchard not far from her house. In 2007, she started to lead a group of female seedling growers and became one of the most famous grafters in Balkhi district despite not having formal training. Grafting is a way to produce saplings or plants from pieces of existing plants instead of seeds. 

Mavjigul states, “I have no formal education. I started working when I was very young. Life was difficult in the 1990s during the civil war in Tajikistan. Years of practice forced me to learn my beloved job - grafting. But I always felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the financial resources to pursue formal education”.

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. 

Between February-June of 2020, Mavjigul travelled to Jayhun, Dusti and Qubodiyon districts to graft trees to earn additional income. Sometimes she grafted up to 250 trees per day. Mavjigul also trained 28 women on grafting pistachios. She chose the best three students from the group of 28 to assist her. Separately, Eeach of these young women earned $20 per day a substantial wage in rural Tajikistan. 

Word about her new skills spread quickly, and Mavjigul received many orders during the season, helping her make an additional $40 per month. With this additional income, Mavjigul has been able to pay for her daughter’s education in Bokhtar city. She also bought a bull calf that she plans to sell next year to help pay for her daughter’s wedding expenses. 

Mavjigul says proudly, “I make $50 per month and thanks to my new skills, I have now earned an additional $40 per month during this growing season. It has helped me improve my family’s well-being. A year ago, I was paid $0.60 for grafting one tree, and now I get one dollar per tree. It is because I’m now a well-trained and certified professional’’.

The USAID Agribusiness Competitiveness activity runs from 2018 to 2023.