This gift in action
Mehnatobod village in Tajikistan, used to be a prosperous region famous for wine growing, but today, of the 4,000 people who live here, many have to go to Russia to find work. It’s often difficult for people to make ends meet and sometimes to feed their families.
One resident, Ubaidullo Nozimov, is helping to lead something of a local small-scale growing revolution thanks to Oxfam agricultural training, some fertiliser and a few bags of faster-growing, high-yield seeds.
Ubaidullo reflects on the situation: “Many people here can't afford to buy them themselves, or the seeds that they do buy are poor quality. These people also struggle to find the money to buy vegetables at the market, so if they can grow their own it means they are able to save a bit of money and keep some seed stock for replanting next season.”
"I've already harvested the beans and carrots we were given by Oxfam and we saved them for the family to eat. The onions, pumpkins and cucumbers we have decided to take to market. The seeds we all received from Oxfam grow faster than local varieties and when you harvest them you get a better yield."
It means that now families have enough to eat, plenty to plant for next season, and lots of vegetables – and seeds – to sell.