Food and nutrition insecurity are major emerging issues in the mountainous areas of Central Asia, particularly in the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region (GBAO) in eastern Tajikistan. To address these issues and within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, the Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI), part of the University of Central Asia, a UNAI member institution, is working with a wide range of stakeholders in food system research.
The MSRI applies science expertise to study complex earth surface and environmental processes that affect mountain societies. It aims at enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacities of such communities and their environments in the context of climate change and other environmental stresses, which are crucial for improving food security and sustainable development. And the latter is only possible through robust scientific research and empirical evidence for informed decisions.
GBAO is a region with elevations above 2,000m, extremely cold winters, warm summers, and low precipitation. Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, alfalfa, and deciduous fruits are grown in this region. Food security is a concern mainly due to limited arable land and short growing seasons. A report of the United Nations World Food Programme alerted in 2017 that food insecurity levels in GBAO “consistently exceeded 20 percent of the population for the period for which data was available.”
Moreover, a special report of the 2020 FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to Tajikistan, warned that “in GBAO, the most vulnerable populations relied on the cheapest alternative, by reducing their food consumption to only milk and tea with bread and butter, three times per day.” The high altitude and prevailing climatic cause unique physiological and biological attributes in local plants and animals.
Food production in these environments is difficult and innovative options are needed. In the prevailing harsh conditions of GBAO, one of the important but unexplored resources is geothermal energy. Tajikistan has unique hot, warm hydro-mineral sources, located on the high mountainous territory of GBAO with approximately 70 sources containing exclusive physio-chemical and gas characteristics in the southwestern and southeastern Pamirs.
The geothermal waters contain rich minerals and there is a significant prospect to utilize these hot water resources for purposes such as warming greenhouses for off-season vegetable production to supplement winter diets. Moreover, the hot water can also be used for space heating and poultry farming in high-altitude areas. To implement this concept, MSRI developed a partnership with Khorog State University, and created a geothermal greenhouse.
The greenhouse at Jelondi village, Shughnan district (3,580m) was established three years ago on an experimental basis. The major objectives of this project were: (1) To establish a productive greenhouse utilizing the geothermal resource of hot water for warming; (2) To test and demonstrate vegetable production and poultry farming in greenhouse conditions; and (3) To use marginal land and geothermal resources for food production.
The greenhouse’s construction was fully completed in April 2019. The remote geographic location of the project, procurement, and transportation of construction materials to the site, as well as the lack of local technical and skilled labor, posed many challenges, all of which were solved in the end. “There is untapped potential to use this type of energy,” commented Aziz Ali, Research Fellow at the University of Central Asia’s MSRI in Khorog, Tajikistan.
Results demonstrated that vegetables can grow at high altitudes using geothermal heating and nearly 700kg of vegetables were produced over 4 months, despite harsh environmental conditions. Research findings revealed that while this can provide a good source of fresh nutritious food for families, it can also increase income to support them. As part of this project, a small poultry farm was also established, to raise ducks using geothermal heating in a pond.
The initial result was encouraging as the birds achieved substantial growth and body weight within 1.5 months. “Findings reveal that the available geothermal resources of hot water springs in high altitude areas of GBAO have great potential to help in producing food at minimum costs year-round,” noted Aziz Ali. “Geothermal energy is nature’s free gift, and with proper use, can support rural livelihoods across poor mountain communities in Central Asia,” the expert added.