8th INTERNATIONAL WHEAT CONFERENCE

From 1999 to 2004, the GTZ-CIMMYT Project “Regional Network on Wheat Variety
Promotion and Seed Production” provided technical support to the breeding program,
the variety testing stations and seed farms. The breeding stations were reorganized and
were enhanced with germplasm from the international nurseries and new varieties received
from breeding programs in the USA, Russia, Iran and Kazakhstan. From this
work, the wheat varieties Jagger and Steklovidnaya 24 and are now widely grown in the
country. Since 2005, the Sida-funded Project “Support to Seed Industry Development
in the Republic of Tajikistan” has provided assistance to the breeding programs, variety
testing, and seed certification as part of the wider goal of establishing an integrated seed
industry. In the framework of this project, the existing public, and new private wheat
breeding programs have been equipped with field machinery. From 2006, cooperation
was also established with colleagues from Oklahoma State University who supply F2 segregating
populations for further selection of desirable lines.
The close cooperation of Tajikistan with the programs of CIMMYT, ICARDA and IW-
WIP in recent years, has enabled a number of new varieties to be selected, including Norman,
Alex, Ziroat 70, Somoni, Tasicar, Оrmon, Sadokat, Iqbol, Oriyon, Sarvar, Yusufi, the
three first of which are already released.
As a result of agriculture reforms and the promotion of new wheat varieties in the recent
years, grain production is now increasing in the country. In 2009, the highest grain yield
was achieved, exceeding 1.3 mln. tons, of which 84% was wheat.
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