tajikistan is a small country but it has space and the soil here is not bad. we're here to work for ourselves - but also to help the tajiks develop their agriculture. >> for now, the chinese are obliged to sell their harvests in tajikistan. that's the condition for not paying for the land. like here in the region of yavan, rusting soviet-era industrial complexes litter tajikistan. the specialists and subsidies of those days are all long gone. now the tajiks are hoping for more technical assistance and expertise from neighboring china. most of the seven million inhabitants depend on agriculture for a living. >> "the tajik population is growing each year - in 2020 it will be ten million. we want to be in a position to feed our people, we want cut our reliance on food imports. but to achieve that, we need to manage the land that we have more intensively . >> yang yizhan, the translator, has taken on the role of agricultural specialist ever since the project began a year ago - commissioned by the chinese state. the chinese provide money for seeds and tractors, all