Want an industrial revolution in life of a community? Gift a land cultivator to a villager!

Murodali Sharipov did not achieve his dream job of career in the military, but when got the very first chance to win hearts and respect of neighbors in the neighborhood, used it immediately. Now he provides a service the whole village and neighboring villages need – tilling the soil in farmlands. 

Murodali lives in a remote village in Kushoniyon district in the south of Tajikistan. Following his dream of career in the military, he entered the Military College in Dushanbe. He studied there for three years, but was not able to continue his last year – Murodali’s father died and he had to go to the Russian Federation to work and provide for the family.

The next page in his life, a labour migration abroad, lasted for a decade and half, before in 2017 he decided to return home and get marry. He says: “It was exactly the time when the life for migrant workers in Russia got worsened – hardened migration legislation, constant police harassment, financial crisis, and the fall of ruble. I decided to look for opportunities at home”.

But the life at home was not easier – the only man in the large family, no job opportunities in the village, only odd and low-paid jobs in nearest big city, endless need to take loan from friends. Friends, in addition to loans, gave him information about a local civil society organization providing income generating grants to former vulnerable migrants. It was “Akhtari bakht”, the partner of the International Organization for Migration – UN Migration Agency in implementation of the USAID “Dignity and Rights” project.

After careful review of Murodali’s request, his abilities, and needs in his community, the project gifted him a small land cultivator to plough soil in farmlands and a motorbike to transport the cultivator.

This move was warmly welcomed by the community, where almost every household has some land and cultivates vegetables in it. There was no more need in digging the soil by hand or seek for a large and expensive tractor. A cheaper and faster solution for tillage suggested by Murodali’s new mechanical machines immediately solved a big problem.

In the village named Mehnatobod, which translates as “flourished from hard work” from Tajik, the machines raised the importance of Murodali and his image in eyes of neighbors. He found a trust in himself and felt himself as an important member of the community. The project grant empowered him both socially and financially.

Mohinisso Shohnazarova, “Akhtari bakht” Director, says: “We are fully satisfied by how Murodali works. He makes good money, doesn’t think of returning to Russia. He has become an important person in the village and neighboring villages, as everyone needs his service – cheaper and faster tillage of soil, people no longer have to plough with hands”.

Murodali says: “Now I make up to $50 a day in agricultural cultivation season. I doubt that I could earn the same in Russia now. I can buy medicines for my mother now, can take care of my large family. I returned loans, save part of earning always for repair services, can farm vegetables in my own land”.

Murodali also employed a classmate of him. With his own savings he now plans to buy some bulls and start cattle breeding too. The page again changed in his life, but this time to a happier period.