“Chinese cabbage grows in the shade and requires little water. And if you cut broccoli and basil, new ones will grow in their place,” residents of the village of Bokonbaevo are surprised by the variety of types of cabbage. Currently, one kilogram of broccoli, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower is sold at a wholesale price of 220 soms.

“I really liked that I could pick broccoli, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower from my garden and make a salad for my children. These are 100% organic products, we grew them with our own hands,” says group member Ainura Kadyrmambetova.

This year, 15 members of the AVEP Vegetables farming group grew 14 different types of vegetables. They participated in trainings 5 times, where they learned the secrets of preparing land, planting and growing vegetables, and methods of pest control. And the vegetable harvest brought additional income to family budgets.

“We grew cabbage, beets, peppers and carrots well. The cucumbers, tomatoes and onions also turned out well. In addition to using it for food, we sold it. We made a winter salad from the leftover harvest, salted it and froze it. The seeds given to us are the best. Everything has grown,” says farmer Anara Estebesova.

The farming group intends to continue growing vegetables next year. Along with it, they plan to plant strawberries and currants. Farmers noted that working together in a group is convenient for the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience.

The project “Vegetable Growing” is financed by the International Seed Fund (SPI - Seed programs International) and is implemented by the public foundation “AVEP”.

Corn silage has proven to be a very useful feed for cows. Residents of the Ton region were convinced of this from their own experience. Farmer Baktiyar Nasirov, who gives silage to the observed cow, said that in 15 days the milk yield increased by 4 liters due to the influence of high-quality feed.

"From December 1, 2023, I started giving 10 kg of silage per day. Three days later, 1 liter of milk began to be added. If earlier we took 8-9 liters of milk, now it has reached 13 liters. We sell 1 liter of milk at a price of 35 soms. In the fall, I prepared my 1 hectare of land for growing corn,” said the farmer.

In the village of Bokonbaevo, succulent animal feed is prepared at the professional lyceum No. 81. As part of the Vegetable Growing project, the educational institution grew corn on a demonstration plot of 20 acres and made silage from it. Currently, more and more farmers are asking the Lyceum to sell silage.

"There are more than 4 tons of green mass here. All technologies were preserved when preserving the silage. In fact, the silage was ready in 48 days. We opened it on December 1 and started feeding it to the cows. There are no additives here, except for the starter. The silage increases the amount of cow's milk and also pleasant for sheep,” said Erkin Sadyrov, an agricultural specialist at the lyceum.

In the Ton region, 350-400 bales or about 9 tons of hay are obtained from 1 hectare. In 2023, due to drought, the cost of 1 bale of hay was 450 soms. And good varieties of corn in the Ton region produce weight from 1 hectare to 50 tons. So farmers are looking forward to comparing feeding results and learning how to plant corn and make silage.

The project “Vegetable Growing” is financed by the Seed Fund International (SPI - Seed programs International) and is implemented by the public foundation “AVEP”.

Participants of the Vegetable Growing project took 1st place at the Ton regional agricultural fair “Harvest Festival 2023”. At the fair, the attention of those gathered was attracted by 14 different vegetables grown by the “Jolly Girls” farming group from the village of Tort-Kul. This is because they put on display vegetables such as onions, peppers, tomatoes and basai, which were not previously grown in the area.

“At the fair we exhibited onions, beets, carrots, cabbage, etc. When we said that we grow all the vegetables ourselves, the district governor B. Astanakulov was very surprised and asked: “It turns out we can also grow onions here?” and praised us,” says group leader Shaigul Bekturova.

 This time, the group members focused on using vermicompost in growing vegetables. This helped them get a bountiful harvest. Personally, Shaigul Bekturova has more than 152,000 soms in income. Other participants also received a good harvest.

 “I collected 200 kg of carrots, 250 kg of beets, 102 kg of tomatoes, 100 kg of cucumbers. Cucumbers - 18,000 soms, tomatoes - 16,000 soms. I froze the remaining harvest after the sale and saved it for the winter,” said group member Gulzhan Bakieva.

The Vegetable Farming Group “Jolly Girls” employs 15 people. They are very interested in growing vegetables and are considering expanding their acreage next year because self-grown vegetables are environmentally friendly and do not cause allergies and diseases of the digestive system in young children.

 The project “Vegetable Growing” is financed by the International Seed Fund (SPI - Seed programs International) and is implemented by the public foundation “AVEP”.

 

Within the framework of the "Growing Vegetables" project, members of the farming group in the villages of Eshperov and Shor-Bulak of the Tong district and Vocational School No. 81 in the village of Bokonbaev are growing corn for silage on a total area of 3.2 hectares. Trainings on corn cultivation are held and consultations are provided. At the end of July, monitoring was carried out, expert Atayev Akai met with the project participants on the ground, answered questions, gave advice and suggestions on growing corn. In general, he assessed that the cultivated corns are satisfactory.

The project “Vegetable Production” is funded by the International Seed Programs (SPI - Seed Programs International) and is implemented by the public fund AVEP.