Success Story: Networking for Business Development

Tajikistan’s agricultural sector is a very important segment of the Central Asian country’s economy, and its southwestern Khatlon province is particularly famous throughout the region for its beautiful fruit and vegetables. However, most farmers are not able to sell their produce outside of the province due to a combination of poor business skills and limited experience on the importance of making and maintaining contracts. To make agriculture more competitive and successful, agribusinesses in rural Tajikistan need support to improve the quality of their produce and modernize their business practices, in particular by using more formal business transactions. Izatullo Sadulloev is the head of a food processing company in Khatlon that currently produces canned food products and fruit juices to sell in the local market, and he believes his company can produce and sell more.