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Mountain apricot producer wins exporter award

14.03.2017

The title of ‘Best exporter of Batken Region’ has been awarded to Mountain Partnership member Alysh Dan, a farmer cooperative located in the mountain village of Kara-bek, Batken Region, Kyrgyzstan. Alysh Dan won this title by participating in the national competition ‘Best exporters of 2016’ organized by the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan jointly with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The cooperative was among the 25 winning exporters selected, based on the criteria of the annual volume of production, export share in the annual volume, compliance to international standards for export, and use of innovation technologies. The winners received diplomas, were included in the Ministry of Economy’s database of national exporters, and get an opportunity to be further trained by JICA and visit Japan for a capacity building and exchange programme.

Farmer Cooperative 'Alysh Dan' begins construction of a storage facility for their dried apricots The organic dried apricots that Alysh Dan produces were one of the first products to be involved in the Mountain Partnership Products Initiative led by the Mountain Partnership and supported by the Italian Development Cooperation. Along with the creation of a Mountain Partnership Product label for the dried apricots, the Initiative is providing additional support to the cooperative through the building of a storage facility. This infrastructure will allow Alysh Dan to have a more stable supply throughout the year, improving their existing production and export, by providing safe and efficient storage for their processed apricots. On 5 March 2017, construction of the storage facility began.

“Our farmers are proud of the fact that Alysh Dan’s products have been recognized by the Government for their high-quality that meets all of the requirements for export. It means that all our efforts are not in vain and that organic farming has a huge potential for boosting local economies,” said Tursunali Tolomushov, head of Alysh Dan.