The Power of Place? Apricots between Heritage and the Market in Central Asia

The project: Follow the Food, related to Future Food Utrecht, has received Incubator Grants  from the Pathways to Sustainability programme. This project led by Martijn Huysmans (Utrecht School of Economics), aims to trace the workings of the global food system by following several products with a so-called Geographical Indication (GI). Four seminars will be organised as part of the project, each focusing on a different product.

This seminar combines the perspectives of rural sociologist Irna Hofman and environmental historian Flora Roberts to consider the past, present and future of apricots in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan. We will discuss how structural constraints, both related to the Soviet legacy and to contemporary challenges, complicate the preservation of local varieties, despite centuries of experience with apricots, resulting in the development of unique cultivars. We will question the applicability of certification systems like Geographic Indicators (GI) to Tajik farmers and specialists seeking to preserve (or revive) those local cultivars, and the extent to which it may affect local agency over apricot production. Can GI be useful as a lever to valorise and protect local expertise and heritage fruit strains challenged both by significant rural outmigration, and by imported cultivars promoted by international development agencies? Or do GIs also impose specific development pathways, that threaten the flexibility and agile responses to local market conditions valued by Tajik farmers? The discussion will be opened by Ozan Alakavklar, who will reflect on alternative business models.

WHERE: Janskerkhof 3, room 0.17
WHEN: Monday 18 November
12:00-12:30 lunch (optional: fill in by registration)
12:30-14:00 presentation, followed by moderated discussion and Q&A