In Khatlon Province, Tajikistan, more female farmers are learning of their land rights and seek to exercise and defend those rights. Through the Feed the Future Tajikistan Land Market Development Activity, tashabbuskors — community activists — and Legal Aid Center (LAC) lawyers support female farmers in the province in 12 target districts.
In Dusti District, Nuri Vakhsh jamoat, Bargigul Allayorova, a 58-year-old female farmer, had worked for years on the lands of the midsized Khatlon dehkan farm. Then, in 2008, management decided to divide up the land between shareholders. The farm legally ceased to exist, and former owners created a new farm, Fayzali. Ms. Allayorova’s land share was absorbed by the new farm against her will. Despite her appeals to various offices, she received no help.
However, Ms. Allayorova never gave up. In October 2019, she met with Aysifat Norbekova, a local tashabbuskor, and informed her of the situation.
The tashabbuskor advised Ms. Allayorova to contact the local LAC office and take the matter to court. Ms. Allayorova was inspired to continue her fight — now with a tashabbuskor and a LAC attorney on her side.
She met her attorney, Abdurahim Kalandarzoda, who helped her collect required documents and file a claim with the province’s Economic Court to separate her land share from the Fayzali dehkan farm.
Ms. Allayorova won — after review, the court divided her land share of 1.46 hectares from Fayzali, overturning the restructuring of the former Khatlon dehkan farm.
With the favorable decision, Ms. Allayorova applied to the chair of Dusti District, Nurmakhmad Faizzoda, to create her own dehkan farm, which she named Farhod. Since its founding in December 2019, Farhod farm has become her family’s main source of income and dramatically improved prospects for all 20 members of her family.