Qurghonteppa, Tajikistan, November 20, 2013 – U.S. Ambassador Susan M. Elliott; USAID Central Asian Republics Mission Director Ambassador Jonathan Addleton; Mirzodavlat Saburov, Agricultural Unit Head under the Executive Office of President; Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources Rakhmat Bobokalonov; Suynhon Rustamov First Deputy Minister of Agriculture; and Rajabali Rajabov Deputy Head of Khatlon Province on Economic Affairs gathered in Qurghonteppa to highlight food security accomplishments in Tajikistan and to launch new USAID Feed the Future projects.

Emphasizing the need to include nutrition activities when working to improve food security, Ambassador Elliott said, “Efforts to integrate agriculture and nutrition programs will contribute to healthier, more productive and resilient communities by ensuring improved access to better quality food, and thus increasing the quality and diversity of diets.”

During the past two years in Tajikistan, Feed the Future has helped farmers improve agricultural production, income, and nutrition on household and small commercial farms. It has built local capacity to develop an effective system of agricultural and health extensions to reach the rural population. It has also provided policy support to implement agrarian reform. In addition, USAID has worked with the Government of Tajikistan to launch several new projects including: 1) the Farmer Advisory Services in Tajikistan Project, which works to improve agricultural extension in western Khatlon and to increase government capacity to implement agrarian reform policies; 2) the Land Reform and Farm Restructuring Project aimed at continuing the progress of farm restructuring and recognizing property rights leading to a market in land-use rights; and 3) the Maternal and Child Health Project which works to implement and strengthen globally recognized, evidence-based interventions for improving maternal and child health and nutrition.