In March 2011, for ten days, RDF researchers together with Ville Bourne, a consultant of value chains at the World Bank conducted a study on the value chains of walnuts growing at the Toskool-Ata timber enterprise of Jalal-Abad region.
The study was carried out on the local community level from the walnut pickers and farmers, and completed by large walnut exporting companies abroad. The study also surveyed the “middlemen”, who acted as a connecting link between farmers and wholesale walnut buyers from the processing plants, where peeled walnuts are sorted, dried and packed for export.
The study revealed that for residents of small communities in Jalal-Abad region, chopping walnuts is sometimes the only source of family income for the autumn-summer period.
Currently, based on the collected data, a report is being prepared with recommendations to increase income for farmers as potential market actors. The bottlenecks and weak points of the value chain will be analysed to help all participants in this chain to achieve increased income and more efficient sales of walnuts, while empowering farmers and eliminating the difficulties of chains.