Horticulture In Uzbekistan

Over 90% of all water resources used in Uzbekistan are allocated to agricultural production for the country’s 4.2 million hectares of arable land.  As the mainstay of the Uzbek economy, irrigated agriculture accounts for about 35% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.  Water Users Associations (WUA) help manage agricultural water resources.  A WUA is a self-managing consortium of farmers that operate and maintain a defined irrigation and drainage network to ensure fair and equitable water distribution to farmers.  The main goal of a WUA is to increase crop productivity and production levels. However, agriculture in Uzbekistan is transitioning from a centrally-planned system to more market-oriented, private enterprise and the farmers operating in this new environment must work within the context of a WUA while making decisions that affect the solvency of their farms.  While a few large horticulture enterprises exist in Uzbekistan, horticulture production is concentrated mostly on small farms.  Farmers encounter challenges such as how to efficiently use water for crop production and how to select cropping strategies appropriate to small farms.  Personnel specifically trained in the private enterprise systems can provide expertise that will allow those farmers to seamlessly transition from a centrally planned system to a market-oriented system.  This presentation will focus on the challenges and promises of Uzbek horticulture while detailing specific opportunities for horticulture consulting.