A woman-entrepreneur developing first lavender farm in Kyrgyzstan
A woman-entrepreneur developing first lavender farm in Kyrgyzstan
Imagine beautiful lavender fields, the majestic smell in the air, and purple blooms as far as the eye can see. Imagine these fields not in Provence, France, but in Issyk-Kul province of Kyrgyzstan. Sounds surreal, but it is true – Kyrgyzstan officially has the first lavender farm in the country and in the Central Asian region as a whole.
Lavender is not something that a Kyrgyzstani farmer would usually grow in the backyard. Potatoes, wheat and onion are among the main agricultural crops grown in the country. However, Aisuluu Duishebaeva thought differently.
Aisuluu Duishebaeva, 38, used to work for various international organizations based in the capital city Bishkek, mostly on projects related to agricultural development in Kyrgyzstan. Through the years, she obtained relevant experience and expertise in organic agriculture and soon decided to move forth on her own.
“Details matter. Many farmers lack knowledge about safer and more efficient crop processing,” says Aisuluu. For instance, traditionally farmers apply fertilizers on crops when insects already hatched from eggs and are grown, which damages the crops and have little effect on the grown insects, “At that time, the treatment becomes useless, and the chemicals remain in the soil, in the water and air”, claims Aisuluu. However, if fertilizers are applied at early stages of seeds growth, which is in early Spring in Kyrgyzstan, then the insects are still in cocoon, and thus the treatment easily kills the pests and does little harm to the soil and crops. Such early-on treatment also requires less fertilizers, which would help farmers save money and time.
Her previous career experience also helped Aisuluu learn that pure essential oils can be grown in mountainous areas, that is, in areas with no developed industrial infrastructure. Kyrgyzstan, from this point of view, was ideally suited for the experiment: a high-mountainous country, with clean air, and high unemployment in rural areas, especially among women and people with disabilities. Furthermore, in comparison with other crops, pure essential oils are expensive on world markets and thus could potentially bring in good income.
Interestingly, niche pharmaceutical companies across the globe always seek organic pure essential oils, because 80% of perfumes are made from them. “Unfortunately, today the global perfumes market is flooded with synthetic oils, which is why the fragrances fade quickly, and the smell is spoiled, especially when mixed with human sweat,” shares Aisuluu.
It was January 2020 when Aisuluu purchased a farmland in Issyk-Kul province and decided to start her own lavender farm. Needless to say that no one, herself included, expected that what seemed like a regular flu would turn into a global infection, closing borders between states and locking people at home. COVID-19 changed Aisuluu’s life, but did not affect her determination.
Having spent three months in lockdown in Bishkek, Aisuluu finally was allowed to travel to her farmland in the summer of 2020. She had missed the first and second crop planting seasons, and there were no seeds to plant yet, because the lavender seedlings she ordered from Bulgaria in February 2020 arrived to Kyrgyzstan only in November same year, that is when there was snow on the ground.
Yet, this situation taught the young farmer how to manage crises in business. Aisuluu allocated certain plots of the land for organic berries and vegetables, and soon started supplying them to eco shops in Bishkek – a practice she still does to date. This helped generate some income, which sustained Aisuluu until next lavender seedlings planting season.
“When I arrived on the farmland there was nothing, a dry and windy wasteland. I did not have any place to stay, so I lived in my car for three months in the summer 2020, until we managed to build a small farmhouse,” remembers Aisuluu with a smile on her face.
The lavender she grows is of exceptionally high quality, because it is 100% organic, both the process and the product. Aisuluu plants the lavender seedlings by hand, does weeding by hand, never applies any fertilizers, and handpicks the bushes herself. All this is done to avoid the use of any chemicals, kerosene and machinery, which destroys the quality of lavender.
Today, Aisuluu successfully exports pure lavender and Damascus rose essential oils to a high-end perfume company in Japan that creates custom fragrances for each client. This demonstrates the exceptionally high quality of Aisuluu’s products. Soon the exports will flow westward, to Germany. But the road to exports was full of barriers, “No one helped but my brother, and when I learned that I won a business grant from the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek it took me some time to process and start believing it,” shares the young entrepreneur.
Last year in 2021 in collaboration with the PEAK programme that helps with development of startups and small and medium-sized enterprises, the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek awarded an in-kind grant to Aisuluu Duishebaeva in the form of a fruit dryer machine and a distiller, the total cost of which was 8000 EUR. These new equipment helped Aisuluu expand production possibilities of pure essential oils, as she explains, “One can use a distiller only for one crop species, in other words I cannot use same distiller for obtaining essential oils from Damascus rose and then the lavender, it would spoil the purity of both oils. Therefore, getting a new distiller from the OSCE was a game changer for my business.”
In the future, Aisuluu plans to increase the volume of lavender cultivation. On average, the villages of Kyrgyzstan allocate 10-15 acres of land per household. Unfortunately, parts of this available land remain unused, and families simply construct outbuildings there. “When I succeed, I believe I can prove to local communities, especially rural women, that allocating some 2-3 acres of household land to growing lavender can be as profitable as it is unique”, says Aisuluu her eyes shining with enthusiasm. “Imagine bringing together 1000 households, that is at least 1000 rural women in Kyrgyzstan, and teaching them, working with them, providing new incomes and opportunities – this is something I strive for,” dreams Aisuluu, “exactly this would also help my business grow lavender oil volumes and place my homeland as one of lavender oil exporter countries on the global map.”
At the same time, Aisuluu stressed that focusing on improving quality of her essential oils comes first, while growing production volumes is secondary, "My utmost goal is not to constantly increase in production volumes, but to add value, thereby adding value to the land I was born and live in, to my community, and to new women-owned businesses across Kyrgyzstan."
Since 2017 the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek has been supporting the development of SMEs across Kyrgyzstan. Notably, to date the Programme Office helped establish and continues to support the operation of Entrepreneurship Support Centres in Batken, Osh, Djalal-Abad, Talas and Issyk-Kul provinces. In 2020-2021 on the basis of the two ESCs in Batken and Issyk-Kul provinces, the Programme Office has developed a women’s entrepreneurship support project, which has won the 2022 OSCE Gender Champion Award in the Best Initiative category. The Programme Office’s team remains committed to supporting sustainable development of women and men’s SMEs in the provinces of the host state.