Jul 302018
Ahtam Shaimardanov.
California
The people of Uzbekistan derive from the ancient agricultural civilization in the arid region between the rivers Amudaryo and Sirdaryo in Central Asia.
This region was conquered by the Red Army and became part of the communist Soviet empire. Uzbekistan has turned into a huge cotton plantation with a harsh, exploitative use of limited water and land resources. The local population was forced to work in cotton fields. The working conditions in the fields were extremely unhealthy due to the excessive use of chemicals used in the cultivation of cotton.
After the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, the communist dictator Islam Karimov remained in power in Uzbekistan and established his personal dominance over all land and water resources of the country. He preserved and continued the colonial practice of predatory use of water and land resources on the basis of forced labor in the fields of adults and children.
The dictator Karimov died in 2016. The new president of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected and he announced a course of radical economic reforms and introduction of intellectual innovative technologies in the country.
As a result of the cruel 25-year rule of the Karimov regime in Uzbekistan, millions of hectares of land have been degraded, but can be restored for further agricultural production through the use of environmentally sustainable innovative technologies for water management and land use.
The United States has accumulated rich experience in many forms of organic farming, including bio-intensive and biodynamic farming, permaculture and the cultivation of organic multi-colored cotton, vegetables and fruits. This would be a very important and useful service to help the people of Uzbekistan learn from this experience. Organic farming uses a lot of manual, accurate, highly efficient work and, therefore, contributes to the creation of new innovative jobs in agro-industrial production.
It is especially important to help the people of Uzbekistan in the transition to the cultivation of multi-colored organic cotton. The climate of the region is favorable for the cultivation of this crop, and the global demand for clothes made from organic cotton is constantly growing. Uzbekistan still occupies one of the leading places in the world for the production of cotton. In the transition to the cultivation and processing of organic multi-colored cotton, the country can preserve and strengthen its special place in the international division of labor.
Why is it important ?
In the full cycle of cultivation and processing of cotton grown by the organic method, 90% is allocated, that is, 10 times less than the greenhouse gas СО2, than in the cultivation and processing of cotton using chemicals – fertilizers, pesticides, chemical dyes.
Organic farming methods lead to an increase in the organic matter of the soil, which is capable of absorbing the greenhouse gas of CO2 from the atmosphere and retaining it in the soil for a long time.
Organic farming methods do not use nitrogen obtained using fossil fuels and electricity – that is, they do not use saltpeter made in factories.
Pesticides, also obtained using fossil fuels and electricity, manufactured in factories, are also not used in this method
Workers in the fields of organic cotton and residents around the fields are not exposed to toxic pesticides, which are usually in the fields with the use of chemical preparations.
Organic cotton has several different varieties with different natural colors. When processing multicolor organic cotton, chemical aggressive dyes are not used in clothing that destroy cotton fibers and contaminate them. Therefore, fabrics made from organic cotton are much stronger than fabrics dyed with chemical dyes, and organic cotton clothes will be more durable.
And if completely switch to growing organic cotton in agriculture, can reduce the production of necessary clothes from cotton, reduce cotton processing plants, reduce transportation. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the area of cotton fields, and the liberated land can be used for the production of food products or forest ecosystems.”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.