USAID support enables Batken fruit exports

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided new flash freezing equipment to Green Export KG, a fruit storage facility in Kadamdzhai district of Batken region.

The new equipment enables Green Export KG to process up to 20 tons of raspberries per day. Flash freezing allows storage of raspberries for longer periods. This will help increase raspberry exports to neighboring countries.

With expanded capacity, Green Export KG has become a new stable buyer for more than 500 households in Kadamdzhai who produce raspberries in their homes. Since the company started its operations in the region, the price for raspberries went from average 50 soms to 200 soms per kilo significantly increasing the earnings of smallholder producers.

«Improving storage and finding new markets is the key to boosting agricultural production in the Kyrgyz Republic. Especially for products like raspberries which are quite unique in the region. We already see that this investment has created more jobs and benefited hundreds of families. That is our ultimate goal,» noted Kaya Adams, USAID Kyrgyz Republic Mission Director.

The flash freezing equipment, worth more than 4 million soms, was provided through USAID’s Agro Trade project that works to increase jobs and incomes in Kyrgyzstan by enhancing the competitiveness of Kyrgyz agricultural businesses and expanding trade opportunities with Uzbekistan.