Preserving traditional knowledge brought by women pastoralists in Kyrgyzstan

All year round, except for the season when they need to go out on pastures, Aigul sows potatoes, grain and other crops, sells cheese and milk in order to feed her family, contributing at least 50% of the household income. Since her husband is one of the leaders of a herding community, Aigul sometimes participates in meetings and holds various meetings with the women of the village.

She received from her mother unique knowledge and methods of sustainable pasture management. One of the things she remembered well from her mother was the traditional method of valuing land called Zhurt chalu, which was used by herding communities before moving from one pasture to another. The method requires sending either a woman or a man on a horseback to scope the grass, soil and water availability. If everything is good, the herders are then allowed to move.

Aigul also sorts waste because she believes the land cannot be desecrated with residues that it cannot digest. She reveals that the water drained from processing cheese should not be poured into the ground as it contains a lot of alkalies and will harm the soil.

Like many herders in the area, Aigul has a knack for handicraft and wool manufacturing. She refrains from using chemicals when dyeing wool since there is nowhere to toss the waste to. Aigul instead uses natural dyes such as onion husks for yellow tint, rhubarb for red, and leaves for green.

Aigul believes that if you treat your land as a mother with respect, then the good will come from this land. She hopes that more and more women will continue to be the backbone of Naryn’s herding communities and pass down the traditional knowledge they’ve inherited to future generations.