Why this matters
Tajikistan is a country in Central Asia with a subtropical climate that varies heavily with elevation. One of the environmental and economic challenges the country faces right now is the lack of local food production.
During summers, Tajikistan is able to supply its markets with products from local farmers, with some imported from neighbouring countries such as Uzbekistan. However, the country becomes heavily dependent on imported food during winters, because local products do not last long due to inefficient harvesting and storage. The constant import of food raises prices and adds to yearly CO₂ emissions.
Farming without information
We interviewed the National Agronomic Academy and the National Institute of Agriculture. The summary of those interviews was that farmers still use the same strategies implemented during the Soviet era. Specifically, farmers have no information about the biological condition of their soil, while applying the same fertilizers every year.
“A farmer uses amofoska one year — 12% nitrogen, 52% phosphorus — and then applies the same fertilizer the following years. Phosphorus builds up while nitrogen stays low.”
With low nitrogen, crops such as cabbage, wheat and cucumber grow weak and cannot sustain themselves until winter. Meanwhile, high phosphorus locks minerals such as zinc and iron in the soil, so roots cannot absorb them. Farmers repeat this process over many years. This applies to most of the farmers who use fertilizer at all.
Hisor region: Farmers complaint on crop failure without any noticeable reason
What we found
During our interviews at the food and fertilizer markets, we were told that Tajikistan produces only karbamid (urea) locally, with the rest mostly imported from Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan. According to the National Statistics of Tajikistan on Agriculture, the amount of fertilizer farmers use decreased by over 50 thousand tonnes from 2024 to 2025. Sellers in the market whose identity we chose not to reveal told us that because of high prices, farmers began using less fertilizer.
More land, not better farming
Even though fertilizer use has dropped, production of most crops has increased. This is not because farming has improved it is because more land is being used. If soil on the new land is exhausted the same way, and expansion continues, this risks driving deforestation and habitat destruction.
What Zamin does
This is the gap Dehqon Zamin addresses giving farmers, for the first time, clear information about what their soil actually needs, so they can grow more without exhausting the land.
The system is under development. The first product is a Telegram bot that asks farmers about their crop rotation, region, fertilizer use and soil laboratory results, then advises on irrigation and fertilizer. It also suggests which crop to plant next to keep the soil nutrient-rich and those suggestions are aligned with market demand, so the farmer still makes a profit.
We are now working on integrating machine learning to generate a full irrigation and fertilization guide, entirely in the Tajik language.
