BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan (TUIE) are working with Turkmen producers to share best practices for fruit tree pruning, pest control, nutrition and potato production/post-harvest management, the representative of USAID told Trend.
The USAID has also been cooperating with TUIE in the horticulture sector.
"In November 2018, USAID, in cooperation with the TUIE, partnered with the private company Hil Standart, to establish Turkmenistan’s first private and commercially operated food safety laboratory, with the aim of increasing horticultural exports," said the USAID official.
The laboratory was officially opened in March 2019. The new microbiology lab perform commercial food testing services for domestic producers and exporters.
Also, USAID partnered with Turkmen horticulture trader, TUIE’s participant Ter Önüm send the first trial shipment of 19 tons of fresh melons overland to Austria in refrigerated trucks in September of 2019.
"Ter Önüm worked with melon farmers in Turkmenistan’s Dashoguz region to source the melons, then sorted, packaged, and loaded them on trucks for transport," added the representative.
The USAID also noticed that the mentioned shipment was successful, therefore, 2 other shipments followed in October 2019 for a total of 55 tons of melons.
Besides the horticulture, USAID is engaged on issues of trade, energy connectivity, and transboundary water resources management both in Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries.
In terms of USAID’s activity is Turkmenistan, USAID Future Growth Initiative, which was designed to spur productive economic activity across Central Asia, including Turkmenistan, is very important.
"In Turkmenistan, the USAID Future Growth Initiative is working in information technology and light manufacturing (small-scale carpets, leather, and handicrafts manufacturers) sectors," said the representative.
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