Rural life in Kyrgyzstan: Batken farmers grow asafoetida on 120 hectares

AKIPRESS website – Avazkan Chotbaev, a resident of the village of Karabulak in the Batken region, has been cultivating the asafoetida plant for 5 years and is working to increase the yield of this herb.

In a conversation with Turmush News Agency, Chotbaev said that asafoetida can be grown on rain-fed land.

He believes that it is necessary to adopt a special resolution in the agricultural field to regulate the cultivation of asafoetida in Kyrgyzstan.

“Now many people are hesitant to grow asafoetida, which has medicinal value. It is necessary to increase its production and export it. However, in recent years, pastures in Lelek and Batken regions have been damaged due to the indiscriminate harvesting of asafoetida,” he pointed out.

A large number of draft documents have been prepared for the restoration of the asafoetida zone and the restoration of the resin, and now Chotbayev is waiting for the support of the Ministry of Agriculture.

“This plant has practical and medicinal value and grows in our mountains. But it is not allowed to collect it for its resin. The law prohibits its collection and there is a fine for collecting the roots and resin.

I have been growing this crop on 120 hectares for 5 years, but have not yet made a profit. If this plant is included in the list of cultivated crops and the cultivated area increases, this direction will become one of the profitable ones. For example, asafoetida leaves have many medicinal properties. In Russia, they are sold for 300-400 rubles per gram. The resin and roots are useful, but in Soviet times they were not exported. Exports required permission from the government’s Ministry of Agriculture. People were afraid to grow asafoetida because they were afraid of being fined. It can be grown on rain-fed land, and Uzbekistan exports a large amount of asafoetida every year. There is even an asafoetida department at the university, where they study this plant and how to grow it. They grow it on rain-fed land in all regions. We also have a lot of such land and we can export it,” Chotbayev said.

If the draft proposed by Chotbaev is approved, the cultivation of asafoetida will be expanded, industrial production and export will begin. The plant has preventive and medicinal value for diseases such as neurasthenia, asthma, diabetes, pneumonia and hepatitis. In Bishkek, 250 grams of asafoetida sell for 1,500 soms, and one kilogram of resin is worth $60-70.

There are 13 species of Ferula plant in Batken region. Currently, the total area of ​​Ferula plant cultivation in Batken region is 1,500 hectares.