Leaving a Blooming Legacy

Sabyrbek paid off a $625 loan he received to plant apple and apricot trees on a plot of land that had lain fallow for years. "At the beginning I was afraid to take a loan, but I decided to take a risk and realize my long-time dream." Photo: Mercy Corps

The 2,000 people of Tosor are proud of their little lakeside village. Located at the base of a spectacular mountain range, on the shores of one of the world's largest mountain lakes, Tosor boasts a long history of writers, painters and composers.

It's also home to people who aspire to be simple famers, like Bukabaev Sabyrbek.

Sabyrbek owned a piece of land that lay fallow for many years. "Before when I came to my field, I was sad because I could not use my land properly and plant a blooming garden of apple and apricot trees," he explained. "I had no money and no knowledge. I could not find a solution."

In 2007, Mercy Corps began a program along the southern shores of Lake Issyk-Kul called "Gardens and Plastics."

The Gardens and Plastics project aims to increase household income and create a regional reputation for consistent, quality organic fruit. Most of Kyrgyzstan's fruit is grown by small landowners, who get a sizeable share of their income from farming. Maintaining the ecological integrity of the fertile lakeshore lands and improving these families' ability to earn income from their home gardens are essential to their financial stability.

There's also a waste-management component to the project; the "plastics" in the name refers to the bulk of the litter around Lake Issyk-Kul. We're working with communities to earn money by storing compressed plastic, metal and non-organic wastes, and transporting what's recyclable to buyers.

For Sabyrbek — who earns a little money as a local vet, owns a few sheep and farms another small plot of land — the Gardens and Plastics program meant putting his empty field to work as an additional income source he and his five-member family.

"We started to take care of our gardens in an appropriate way and treat our gardens as small businesses," Sabyrbek says. "We realized that producing higher quality apples would generate more income. GAP trained us not only in caring for our gardens, but also in managing our small businesses by conducting trainings on pricing and marketing."

The countrywide microcredit agency Mercy Corps founded, Kompanion, also played a key role. The bank designed a special agricultural loan program for participating farmers. "At the beginning I was afraid to take a loan," says Sabrybek, "but I decided to take a risk and realize my long-time dream."

Sabyrbek has already paid off his $625 loan and planted apple and apricot trees and earning income from his current home garden. He represents only one of the 1,000 households in the programs. Currently, 419 clients have borrowed more than $200,000 to buy seeds and fertilizer and tools.

By doing so, they're demonstrating their commitment to protecting and improving their ecosystem, conserving natural resources, and securing their families' financial future.