The five-year campaign “Plant a Million Garden Trees” was launched on Friday in Nukus, which will cover Karakalpakstan, Bukhara and Kashkadarya provinces.

Initiated by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), State Committee of Ecology, State Committee of Forests and the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, the initiative is aimed at attracting public attention to the conservation, restoration and expansion of fruit and nut orchards, ensuring food security and caring for the environment. 

The launch of the initiative was announced by Helena Fraser, UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan and Bahrom Kuchkarov, Chairman of the State Ecology Committee as part of the high-level conference under the auspices of the United Nations “Aral Sea Area - Zone of Environmental Innovations and Technologies”. 

“The culture of planting fruit trees is part of the centuries-old traditions of Uzbek families. The National Plant a Million Garden Trees National Campaign is based on this good tradition ... We hope that it will become a model of sustainable development for restoring the environment at the national level and will contribute to improving the living standards of rural families,” said Helena Fraser. 

The main idea of ​​the campaign is to swiftly and inexpensively recreate the natural landscape and soil fertility, improve the microclimate and well-being of people who will benefit from the cultivation of fruits and nuts, said Mahmud Shaumarov, regional coordinator of the FAO Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM) II, within the framework of which the campaign is organized. 

For five years, starting in 2020, technical support will be provided to interested campaign participants in the form of a donation of planting material of fruit, nut and berry crops (among these species - almonds, apricots, apple trees and grapes) for planting orchards and landscaping home gardens on total area of ​​about 2000 hectares. 

The project features the use of climate-optimized solutions and intelligent technologies, including remote monitoring of the state of the gardens, as well as the development of gardening manuals. In the long run, this initiative will enable rural communities to benefit from more sustainable farming practices and improved horticulture. 

The initiative provides for the organization of demonstration gardens on an area of ​​40 hectares, including gardens for large and low-income families, where various technologies for creating gardens will be tested. It is planned to create a modern nursery on an area of ​​10 hectares, where farmers will be trained to grow new and improved traditional planting materials.