Tajikistan: Preparing and Implementing Gender-Inclusive Projects in Central and West Asia - Preparing Resilient Livelihoods and Empowerment of Rural Women Project (Subproject 14)

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural policy, institutional and capacity development

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has adversely affected Tajikistan's economy as the 7.5% growth reported in 2019 dropped to 4.5% in 2020. Since 2010, Tajikistan's agriculture sector experienced volatile but strong average growth rates of about 6% each year. It accounts for more than half of the country's total employment and contributed around 22% to the gross domestic product in 2020. About 70% (over 6.5 million) of the Tajik population (9.5 million) live in rural areas where small-scale household farming is the major source of household income. Improving the country's agricultural productivity is critical to advancing overall economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving food security.

Tajikistan's exposure to climate change impacts is one of the highest in Central Asia. Droughts, in combination with heat stress and the increased water demand for key crops, will further reduce agricultural yields. Rural women will be disappropriately affected by climate change impacts as their main source of income and livelihood stems from agriculture activities.

Tajikistan faces high levels of food insecurity. In 2021, about 21% of the total population was food insecure. Undernourishment rates are high (30% in 2017), with a disproportionately high percentage of undernourished women. There is a well-established link between food insecurity, sexual violence, exploitation, abuse, and child marriage. When scarcity over food and water increases, community conflicts tend to rise as well, with women and girls being at much higher risk of violation of their rights. Food insecurity is expected to even further increase because of the limited capacity to respond to climate-induced shocks that will adversely affect agricultural production. Women also often bear the brunt of coping mechanisms in food insecure households, by skipping meals altogether, eating less nutritious food or smaller portions. According to the latest data from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, 14% of women aged 15-49 years reported that they had been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former partner within a year in Tajikistan. Between January to September 2022, more than 6,000 cases of domestic abuse were reported to one crisis center in Bokhtar, Khatlon province.

The country's agriculture-based economy is highly dependent on female labor. High rural male outmigration of around 40% has resulted in increased women participation in various facets of agriculture. Two-thirds of women in Tajikistan are engaged in the agriculture sector but many work in precarious conditions as informal agricultural workers.