The initiative to create an egg-production cooperative was started up by Gulnoz Bobokulova at a “Business idea and business planning” training-seminar. A common business idea further developed with the “Area Based Development” Project team in cooperation with Dasht Village Citizens Council of Karshi district in Kashkadarya has turned into an effective tool to improve living standards of vulnerable households in the community. 

For the implementation of the project 12 households with low income but having poultry keeping experience and such qualities as diligence and sense of responsibility were selected. Noticeably, the most of selected people are unemployed citizens, where 10 of 12 are women. Thus, with support of ABD project team in institutionalization process LLC “Karshi Tovugi” was founded.

In result of trainings on business administration and marketing, as a company’s management tool LLC members decided to apply a cooperative management system which thanks to collaboration of citizens on a voluntary basis gives an opportunity to save from 10 to 30 percent of total expenses from wholesale purchases, savings in transport costs, and horizontal division of labor.

The UNDP ABD project provided technical support through delivering 1200 hen layers of ‘Lohmann classic’ (Germany) breed and special cages for keeping these layers. Today, each cooperative member keeps 100 highly productive layers kept in these 12 mini-farms and adapted for rising in cages throughout their lifecycle, producing over 300 eggs per year. Keeping the layers in special cages with semi-automated water supply system leads to fewer diseases due to limited contact between them. The company has already started daily delivery of products to nearby stores and catering service points. As a result of the business-project 12 low income families have an opportunity to earn more than 250 thousand sum each month. To assure sustainability and growth of the cooperative, 5-10% of the net profit put for the admission of new cooperative members and creation of reserve fund to cover unforeseen expenses.

  "I thought the most difficult thing in business is to find the initial capital, but the experience of our co-op has shown that the hardest part is changing attitudes of people towards their lives and taking a more proactive stand."        

(G. Bobokulova, initiator)

Dasht community located in Karshi district in Kashkadarya numbers 1300 households or 5850 people, the main activities of which are agriculture, horticulture, and small entrepreneurship. Due to existence of a number of priority problems in the community, such as the lack of irrigation water, natural gas, and safe water supply, as well as need to repair village’s secondary roads and electricity supply system, UNDP “Area Based Development” Project decided to support local initiatives aimed at improving community welfare. The success of the first project on rehabilitating irrigation water supply inspired community members to implement another project.