Access to Markets Project: Akdil Group

Argen Subanov has managed to bring ten people together to form a commercial agricultural cooperative Akdil Group, including fellow villagers in difficult circumstances. 

As soon as the cooperative has an opportunity, the farmers help each other. Now the number of dairy cows in the cooperative farm has reached 15 heads. Milk yields of 300 liters per day are delivered to the processing company Ala-Too Milk, the leader of the VAC, which was established with support from IFAD's Access to Markets Project. 

Farmers are working to improve cow husbandry, introduce balanced fattening and improve animal breeds. They grow wheat, barley and maize on 35 hectares of land. In the future, they plan to organize a dairy farm. 

The Access to Markets Project provided the cooperative with a grant of $59,200. This money was used to purchase all the necessary equipment for planting and harvesting, a milking machine, and a milk cooling tanker. The work of organizing the cooperative's activities falls on the shoulders of the manager. 

Argen has no special qualifications: he acquired the necessary knowledge through training courses on management, financial management and planning organized by the project.

This video collection was prepared within the framework of the Access to Markets Project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The Access to Markets Project (ATMP) is an IFAD-funded project of USD 31.2 million, which was approved in 2016 and will end in December 2024. It aims to raise incomes and enhance economic growth in Kyrgyzstan's pastoralist communities. Its development objective is the improved access and integration of smallholder livestock farmers into remunerative markets for their products, leading to improved and equitable returns.