GUEST LECTURE
Maintaining Agricultural Livelihoods in Rural Tajikistan: Knowledge Practises Among Smallholder Farmers in the Zerafshan Valley
by Andreas Mandler
Date & Time
10. 6. 2020 10:00 AM
Location
Trainee centre ONLINE on ZOOM
Join Zoom meeting HERE
Abstract
Due to its mountainous topography, Tajikistan has very little arable land at disposition. However, more than 70% of the Tajik population lives in rural areas. Since national independence, Tajikistan’s agricultural sector, and its rural communities too, undertake transformation processes, which led, among others, to the individualization of agricultural production. Most rural households have only marginal pieces of arable land at their disposition and are forced to follow different income strategies at the same time. Taking examples from communities along the Zarafshan River, my talk will discuss knowledge practises of smallholder farmers to maintain agricultural livelihoods.
Bio
Andreas Mandler is a social scientist working on the interface of agricultural production, local governance arrangements and knowledge practises in rural Central Asia. He graduated from Central Asian Seminar at Humboldt University of Berlin and worked in international development cooperation on rural communication and knowledge systems. Andreas Mandler holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Centre of Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn with a dissertation on Agricultural Expertise and Knowledge Practices among Individualized Farm Households in Tajikistan (2018). Currently Andreas Mandler is an independent researcher affiliated to Kunsthistorisches Insititut Florenz, Max-Planck-Institute.
