Green solutions for effective agricultural management

The success story of Nafisa Bayniyazova

October 15, 2020

Image: UNDP Uzbekistan

From 2018 pasture cooperatives in Karakalpakstan have helped mitigate climate change and limit the impacts of the Aral Sea’s disappearance. The ‘Ajiniyaz Jaylawlari’ pasture cooperative is a part of the ‘Hakim Ata’ Rural Citizens’ Assembly of Muynak District. Along with nine other cooperatives across Karakalpakstan, it was formed in 2018 with the joint support from UNDP and the Adaptation Fund. 

Chaired by Nafisa Bayniyazova, ‘Ajiniyaz Jaylaw’ cooperative possesses more than 582 hectares of pasture area, with 595 families being supported through effective animal husbandry and agricultural management. Nafisa is also the first female chairperson at the Association of Pasture Cooperative of the Republic of Karkalpakstan.

“It’s very pleasing to see that the push to develop our district’s livestock sector has become an ever-more ambitious project,” shared Nafisa Bayniyazova, chair of the ‘Ajiniyaz Jaylawlari’ pasture cooperative in the Muynak district. “I feel that my work is useful to people and this gives me both the strength and the motivation to generate new ideas.” 

Today, she is investing in green crop harvesting technology, through using a hydroponic plant with a 500 kg daily capacity. Hydroponics has made it possible to feed up to 167 heads of cattle a day, removing grazing pressure from an area of 300 hectares. It is noteworthy that the quantity of feed produced this way is equivalent to what can be cultivated on 75 hectares of traditionally irrigated land.

Nafisa serves as a role model for many rural women across her cooperative by welcoming innovative technologies in the field of green solutions, that are re-shaping the common practices of agriculture in Karakalpakstan.