In the arid Muminabad district of Tajikistan, farmer Rahmonali has increased his grain yield from 500–600 kilogrammes to two tonnes per hectare. He was helped by new seeds, a solar-powered electric fence to keep out wild animals, and access to water for his livestock. His farm’s story shows how simple solutions can improve the lives of cultivators in conditions of water scarcity and pasture degradation.
The motorbike bounces over the stones. Rahmonali steers it confidently along the broken road, weaving around boulders and deep gullies. Another climb lies ahead. All around are dry hills, sparse trees and ravines dropping steeply away.
We are heading to the village of Shughnoshahr in Muminabad district. From there it is still several kilometres to our subject’s fields.
The landscape here is beautiful but harsh. After heavy rains, mudflows race through the ravines, washing out roads and leaving piles of stones. Some sections have to be restored almost every year.
For Rahmonali, the motorbike is his main means of transport. It is more convenient for reaching the fields and pastures than a car — and faster and cheaper besides.
On one of the hills the farmer stops. Before us is a one-hectare field surrounded by low posts strung with wire. The harvest has already been brought in. This is where Rahmonali found a way to protect his crops from wild animals without resorting to killing them.
A problem more than twenty years old
Farmers in the rain-fed districts of Tajikistan have been complaining for more than twenty years about wild boars destroying their crops of peas, grain and melons. In a single night the animals can damage a significant portion of a harvest. Porcupines, cows and donkeys also wander onto the fields.
For smallholders this is a serious problem. The land must be ploughed, sown and then left to wait for rain. But even after all that, there is no guarantee the harvest will be gathered.
One method of dealing with wild animals had been shooting them. In Shughnoshahr, people decided to try a different approach — a solar-powered electric fence.
A fence that even boars give a wide berth
From a distance the fence looks unimpressive. Low posts, a few rows of thin wire. It seems as though even a donkey could simply step over them. But the animals have already learnt: it is better to keep away.
This is an electric shepherd — a system that sends short electric pulses through the wire. All it needs to operate is a single solar panel and a 12-volt power source. No connection to the main electricity grid is required.
A touch delivers an unpleasant shock that frightens animals away, but is not designed to harm them.
— Before, you’d sow barley, wait for the harvest, and then the animals would come and eat everything. Boars especially. They’d get in at night — by morning there was almost nothing left, — Rahmonali says.
Now the uninvited visitors give the field a wide berth. The donkeys were the first to learn their lesson. As soon as one of them poked its nose at the wire and got a shock, the urge to feast on barley vanished immediately.
— Now you could let a donkey right up to the field and it won’t come within a metre of the wire! — the farmer laughs.
The cows have also become more cautious. They approach, touch the wire with their muzzles and back away with a loud moo.
The boars have their own troubles. Their snouts are usually moist, so the electric pulse hits them particularly hard.
— A boar sticks its snout in first. Gets a shock, gives a grunt — and runs off. After that it doesn’t come back here, — says Rahmonali.
The fence was installed with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partners as part of a project to restore degraded land and pastures.
Forty sacks instead of a few
— How much grain did you harvest from this plot? — I ask the farmer.
— Forty sacks. About two tonnes.
— And before?
— Usually 500–600 kilogrammes. Sometimes only seven or eight sacks. The animals ate the crops, a lot was lost.
Rahmonali works rain-fed land — plots without permanent irrigation, where the harvest depends on rain and snow.
In dry years, farmers on such plots often get no more than a tonne of grain per hectare. This season Rahmonali harvested twice that, and compared with his own previous results he has increased his yield more than threefold.
In addition to protecting the field, new seeds provided through the project also helped.
Seeds for ten hectares
Rahmonali received seeds of grain and fodder crops, including barley, oats, alfalfa and sainfoin. On one hectare he set up a seed plot.
— We sowed about 200 kilogrammes of seed and got two tonnes of grain, — the farmer says.
He intends to use the harvested grain as seed material and share it with his neighbours.
— You need about 150–200 kilogrammes per hectare. So two tonnes will be enough for ten hectares. If the harvest there is good, the following year we’ll have seed for a hundred hectares. Then for a thousand, ten thousand…
For now these are plans. Whether they come to fruition will depend, above all, on the weather.
The fodder crops are also intended to help restore degraded pastures. Alfalfa, sainfoin and other plants help increase vegetation cover and provide feed for livestock.
Of ten springs, only two remain
The main problem in these parts, however, is the shortage of water. According to Rahmonali, there used to be around ten springs in the surrounding area. Now only two flow permanently.
— Eight have dried up. In spring, when it rains and the snow melts, some of them reappear. But in summer the water disappears.
Heat and lack of rainfall are taking their toll on the pastures. Until recently, villagers had to bring water for their livestock from two or three kilometres away.
— We carried it by hand. It was especially hard in winter. Slippery roads, mud, cold. And the animals need water every day.
With the support of UNDP and partners, a water pipeline was laid to the pastures and a watering point was installed. According to the farmer, more than 20 households in the village and their livestock are now supplied with water.
— Now there’s no need to walk far for water. It’s easier for us, and the animals are provided for, — says Rahmonali.
Even so, farming here still depends on rainfall, and the drying up of natural springs remains a problem for local residents.
Spending the night on the pasture
The fields and pastures are several kilometres from the village, so Rahmonali sometimes has to stay there overnight.
As part of the project, shepherds were provided with a six-person tent, sleeping bags, kitchen equipment and solar panels for lighting and charging phones.
— When we stay on the pasture, there’s light now. You can charge your phone. It’s convenient, — the farmer says.
Family members help him with the farm work. When there is a lot to do, fellow villagers pitch in.
We say goodbye to Rahmonali. But he has no intention of lingering — it is time to get back to the cows, which are waiting their turn at the watering point.
The farmer starts his motorbike and, giving us a wave, heads off up the stony road. The motorbike nimbly skirts the boulders, climbs the steep slope, then disappears behind the next hill.
For a while longer, a long trail of fine dust hangs over the road. Gradually it disperses, and silence reigns once more over the dry hills of Muminobod.