Lemons grown in Tajikistan. Screenshot from the video “Таджикские лимоны” from Новости Таджикистана от З‘s YouTube channel. Fair use.

Lemons are one of the most popular agricultural exports of Tajikistan, known for their exceptional quality and sought after in Central Asian countries and beyond. In contrast to other varieties, Tajik lemons are noticeably sweeter and juicier, with thinner skin and a strong aroma. Additionally, their orange color gives them a distinct look.

Their story dates back to the 1930s, a time when Tajikistan was part of the Soviet Union. In 1934, a native of Soviet Georgia, Vladimir Tsulaya, arrived in Stalinabad, as Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe was called at the time, with the first seedlings of lemons. It was customary in the Soviet Union to send young professionals off to remote places, where their knowledge and skills were needed to develop new industries.

Tsulaya’s seedlings were of the Meyer lemon, a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, named after Frank Nicholas Meyer, an American agricultural explorer, who first brought the plant from China in 1908. A certified agronomist, Tsulaya spent his entire life in Tajikistan, working to create and perfect a new breed of lemons and earning himself the nickname of “father of lemons.”

He crossed the Meyer lemon with the Georgian lemon, creating a new variety, which later became known as the Tajik lemon. All this work was carried out at the zonal and experimental station located in the Vakhsh Valley in the southern Khatlon province, where 90 percent of households today are lemon farmers.

Here is a YouTube video about Tajik lemons.

In addition, Tsulaya and his colleagues developed a new method of growing lemons in the region not suited to citrus plants. Lemons were planted in deep trench greenhouses to help them withstand cold winter temperatures. It proved successful and was subsequently adopted in the neighboring Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.

Decades later, Tajikistan is still one of the regional leaders in cultivating and exporting lemons. The lemon industry has even managed to survive the civil war, which started in 1992, a year after Tajikistan gained independence, and ended in 1997. Nowadays, lemonariums occupy over 5,000 hectares of land. In 2024, Tajikistan exported over 2,000 tons of lemons, mainly to Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

In Tajikistan, farmers sell lemons for USD 0.3 per kilogram. Although very cheap by Western standards, the lemon industry is considered lucrative in Tajikistan, since profits from growing lemons can be 8–10 times higher than other crops.

Here is a YouTube video about a lemon harvest season in Tajikistan.

The government has promoted the expansion of lemonariums. The Program for the Development of Horticulture, Viticulture, and Citrus Growing for 2025–2029 aims to introduce new types of greenhouses and technologies to increase yields and exports. It envisions creating 113 hectares of new citrus orchards in various provinces. Ultimately, the country wants to increase the annual export of lemons to 7,000 tons.

The popularity of Tajik lemons is growing internationally. The most famous person to acknowledge their superiority is the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In 2019, he called Tajik lemons one of the best in the world, while visiting an international charity fair in Beijing, where Tajik goods, including lemons, were displayed. Those who have tried them find it hard to argue against this statement.