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KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 2
Agriculture is a large and vulnerable sector in Uzbekistan, with 49.5% of the population living in rural areas and employing 15 out of 32 million people.
Factory farming is almost unthinkable in a country built on local bazaars and markets that rely on dekhans (small-scale farms) for their products.
At the same time, 75% of the country is covered by deserts, which means that it is crucial to be smart with resources: conserve the little water available, and carefully select the crops to be cultivated.
It is hard to forget that Uzbekistan is home to the now-extinct Aral Sea, whose waters were diverted from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for decades to form irrigation canals that fed water-intensive cotton and rice crops in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
Since 2016, the agricultural sector in Uzbekistan has undergone a process of reform and renewal. Under the new agricultural strategy, the Government of Uzbekistan is trying to address environmental impacts in rural areas, as well as support farmers through increased financial resources.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 3, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
