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Program
The “Gardens and Plastics” (GAP) project is a community mobilization and technical assistance project targeting 1,000 households in eight villages of the Issyk-kul region, Kyrgyz Republic. In 2006, over 900,000 home gardeners throughout the country earned 29% of their income through production of 61% of Kyrgyzstan’s fruit and berries on plots of land that average less than 0.1 hectare. Maintaining the ecological integrity of these lands and improving households’ ability to earn income from their “home garden businesses” are essential to households’ food and financial stability. Decentralization and privatization has left a knowledge vacuum among private farmers about how to grow and cooperatively market better products, sell together at larger volumes, and collectively bargain. Households need to see themselves as business owners and their gardens as private businesses in order to develop business behaviors. This project aims to simultaneously address these ecological, social, and economic issues with the main goal of increasing household income and creating a regional reputation for consistent, quality organic fruit.
Project objectives include:
- Improve Land Management for Households
- Develop organic fruit tree and garden management skills for better production
- Begin a plastic waste management system to prevent soil contamination and ensure
- Compliance with organic certification schemes
- Improve Business Behaviors for Sellers and Buyers
- Make record keeping and budgeting a priority for households
- Foster trust and understanding of needs for buyers and sellers
- Mobilize 1,000 Home Gardeners to Sell their Fruits Together
- Regional Marketing of Issyk-kul Fruits
- Create a Business Association of Fruit Growers to link villages in the region
- Establish a Regional Brand if consistent product quality can be achieved
- Research Organic Certification Schemes
- Improved Value Chain Linkages
- Introduce input/tool suppliers, advisors, buyers and growers to each other.
Budget
The total budget for the program is $50,000.
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