Dr. Syed Anwarul Haque :
I had an opportunity to visit Tajikistan in March, 2000 as a Soil Expert to work on, “Feasibility study of the Dangara Valley irrigation project in Tajikistan”. The project in Tajikistan was for development of an area of 6,000 ha for crop production (cotton) in dry land area of Dangara, in Tajikistan. The project was funded by Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia while Bangladesh Engineering & Technological Services (BETS) Ltd. was the local farm to do the consultancy work for the project. I joined the project as a Soil Consultant on 1st February, 2000 in Dhaka. My consultancy period in Tajikistan commenced from 12 March, which was initially for one month but later extended to 30 April 2000.
A land locked country in Central Asia
Tajikistan is a land locked country in Central Asia with mountains covering 93 per cent of it. It has an area of 143,100 kmestimated population of 95.48 million. It borders with Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north and China to the east. It became an independent sovereign nation on 9 September 1991 with the disintegration of Soviet Union. It has hardly 6% arable land for crop production and the rest mostly covered by mountains. The main economic crop of Tajikistan is cotton. It has valuable mineral resources yet to be fully tapped and has one of best hydraulic powers in the world.
Way to Tajikistan
My journey to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan was a difficult one, which I did not anticipate before I left for it on 10th March 2000. After getting all formalities for the visit to Tajikistan done including Visa, plane ticket etc., I got ready to leave for Dushanbe. My initial journey was up to Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan by plane from Dhaka, from where I had to go to Dushanbe by road using a car. At that time there was no direct air flight from Tashkent to Dushanbe. Plane services have been initiated very recently between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It was a long journey by road from Tashkent to Dushanbe. I was also not knowing the driver of the car, who would drive me to Dushanbe. He was unknown to me. I was simply given the name of the driver who would wait for me at outside of the airport to take me alone to the destination in Dushanbe.
I flew by Uzbek airline from Dhaka to Tashkent non-stop. On arrival at the Tashkent airport and completing airport formalities, I went outside the airport. I found the driver who was looking for me to leave for Dushanbe. Initial problem was over, but I did not know what was ahead. The car driver drove me a long way. The road was empty. Vast open area on the way. Sporadic Gas fields could be seen on both sides of the road. Finally, we came to the border with Tajikistan, the Oybek border. The border is 90 km away from Tashkent. I found another driver with a car waiting on the other side of the border to take me to Khujand airport for Dushanbe. The driver was also unknown to me. However, I followed him.
Khujand city and Alexander the Great
Khujand is the second largest city of Tajikistan, It is the capital of Tajikistan’s northernmost province, Sughd. It was one of the oldest cities in Central Asia dating back to about 2,500 years. Khujand was also a major city along the Silk Road. It was first conquered by Alexander the great, in 329 BC, who fortified renamed the city in his own honor to Alexandria the furthest”. It had been part of many empires in history, including Umayyad Caliphate (8th century), the Mongol Empire (13th century) and Russia Empire (1 century). To-day, the majority of its population are ethnic Tajik.
The driver drove me to Khujand, where I spent overnight in a pre-booked hotel, The following morning, the same driver drove me to the airport on way to Dushanbe, in the way, he showed me ruins of a fort that was used by the soldiers of Alexander the Great.
According to old writings, Alexander built a city, ruins of which have been discovered near Khujand. He built many forts about 70 fortifications to save his soldiers, many of his forts became the sites of today’s cities and towns. Khujand was an important stronghold of Alexander the Great in Central Asia in the pursuit of his mission of conquering big land area of the world and how he became one of the greatest kings of the ancient world. Alexander the Great built his great empire on his motto, ‘There is nothing impossible to him who will try”.
We reached the airport, wherefrom I got in to a small aircraft to be flown to Dushanbe. The aircraft appeared to me was pretty old, a scary small Russian plane. On reaching Dushanbe International Airport, I found one Bangladeshi gentleman waiting for me. He was the manager who was looking after the BETS’s project there in Dushanbe.
So finally, my journey to incoming Dushanbe from Dhaka ended well. I went with the BETS’s Manager to the residence for my stay in Dushanbe. Interestingly the front gate at the entrance of the flat, where we stayed had two doors, one after another. Probably the gate system was due to double security for the flat. The front door from outside entrance to the flat was of heavy steel, the second one was a normal wooden door. My stay in Dushanbe was confined mostly to going to office for work and stay home after office hour, apart from visiting Dangara project site, where I went with the Russian Soil Expert attached to the project.
Persian background of Tajiks
The people now known as the Tajiks are the Persian speakers of Central Asia. The Tajiks, whose language is identical with Persian, were part of the ancient Persian Empire, Darius. Later it was conquered by Alexander the Great (333 B.C.). In the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabs conquered the region and brought Islam there. The Tajiks were successively ruled by Uzbeks and the Afghans until claimed my Russia in the 1860s. In 1924, Tajikistan was consolidated into a newly formed Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. It became an independent state on disintegration of USSR in December 1991.
I had been in Dusti (Friendship) Square in Dushanbe on 21 March, one day after my arrival in Dushanbe to see the Somoni Monument. The monument was erected in the year 1999 to honor the 1100th anniversary of the Samanid Empire. It was a very tall monument, 25 m (82 ft) in height. The monument was installed just a year back went to Dushanbe as a consultant from Bangladesh on the Dangara valley project work. Somoni Monument is the most popular attraction in Dushanbe. The crown on the top of the monument was made of gold as I was told, when I visited the Somoni Monument in Dusti Square. My visit to Dusti Square coincided with the Persian New Year Nowruz. A good number of people assembled there. Nowruz is celebrated worldwide by the Iranians. It marks the first day of the year of the Iranian calendars. Tajiks being Persians of Central Asia, they also follow Nowruz as per their calendar. Tajiks are Sunni in contrast to present day Iranians, who belong to Shia sect of Islam.
Ismail Somoni thegreat Tajik Emperor was considered as the founder of first Tajiks State, whogave the Tajiks their first homeland, much of which is modern day Tajikistan.
Somoni monument in Dushanbe
Initially on my arrival to Dushanbe, I met the Tajik Head of the project at the Ministry of Irrigation, Tajikistan in Dushanbe with our project team leader. I had the advantage of language. The Official language of Tajikistan was yet Russian and they were accustomed to Russian language, since Tajikistan was a Republic under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). I had a Russian language background, since I did my PhD in Moscow, Soviet Russia and I was knowing Russian quite well. I often worked as an interpreter of Russian language for our team of experts, while discussing project matters with Tajik counterparts.
Dangara Valley, the project area
I went to Dangara Valley the site of Tajikproject to evaluate soil problems and irrigation needs of the big land area, 6000 ha for crop production, primarily cotton, the main economic crop of Tajikistan. I had with me on the trip to Dangara Valley, a Russian Soil Scientist Sosin Piotr, who was also involved in the project. We checked soil profile at the site. It was degraded red soil. Apparently presence of a lot of iron and Aluminum in the soil created toxicity for the crop and hampered crop growth. It had also very less or no organic matter in the soil. We had a number of meetings with both Tajik and BETS consultants’ group on different aspects of the project apart from the soil and irrigation problems affecting cotton production at Dangara valley.
Dangara valley in Tajikistan
Soil degradation and lack of irrigation facilities in cropping areas were the main problems affecting crop production in Tajikistan. Soil fertility management and nutrient conservation were poor and needed attention to improve productive capacity of the soil. Adverse climatic conditions, such as more frequent draughts used to hit poor farming communities. The combination of land inequality, water scarcity, deforestation, and overgrazing led to soil erosion of an estimated 70% of irrigated cropped lands. Because the majority of rural population were near landless, stripping of water in steep mountainous areas were common phenomenon, causing landslides and soil degradation. My report on Dangara valley project was its improvement possibilities for crop production with necessary soil amendments and development of irrigation facilities. Key emphasis was given on cotton production, main export item of Tajikistan. Tajik cotton is considered as one of best in the world.
Tajikistan is very rich in natural resources that include gold, uranium and silver with huge mineral deposits. The country has huge natural gas, oil, and coal reserves. Tajikistan has also vast natural water reserves. It has significant hydro power potential as it possesses 4% of the world’s hydro power resources and 53% of Central Asia’s resources. These resources are yet to be fully tapped, hardly 5% of its potential is currently in use in Tajikistan. With utilization of huge natural resources that Tajikistan is endowed with, it can make a break-through in country’s economic condition in Central Asia.
(Dr. Syed Anwarul Haque, a retired Professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh.)
