What Tajikistan risked losing, Abdusattor still grows

Abdusattor Muzaffarov remembers when fruit trees barely survived on his land. No matter how carefully he planted or watered, roaming livestock would trample the seedlings, undoing weeks of work overnight. “We tried everything, but it kept happening,” he says. “We didn’t have fences, local seeds or support. Most of the time, we just had to start over.” Abdusattor, 58, lives with his wife, Zulkhumor Nabieva, and nine children in a village in Baljuvon district. He spends most of his days working the 2 ha of forest land he leases from the Forestry Agency.