A part of the political opposition of Uzbekistan has the conviction that in Uzbekistan it is necessary to completely abandon the cultivation of cotton.
They believe that the cultivation of cotton in Uzbekistan is the cause of mass forced labor of local residents, including children.
There are also arguments that the cultivation of cotton requires the mandatory use of pesticides harmful to the population and nature.
There are also arguments that the cultivation of cotton leads to mandatory soil salinity, which is confirmed in reality.
But in fact, the problem is not in the cotton culture itself, but in the method of cotton growing in Uzbekistan, which has developed in 50 years. The essence of this method is a chemical monoculture of huge state cotton plantations, forcibly introduced from the outside against the interests of the local population.
And the problem is that the current government of Uzbekistan continues to support this technology of chemical cotton growing, they do not see an alternative.
But, as a real alternative, in Kyrgyzstan, next to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan has grown cotton for 15 years without using chemicals – an organic method.
Of course, the main merit in this belongs to the government of Kyrgyzstan, which allowed private land ownership, when farmers can choose their own methods of farming. And of course, the government helped the farmers, that they invited the Swiss organization of development “Helvetas” to Kyrgyzstan.
Unfortunately, USAID in its activities in Uzbekistan does not yet support the development of organic cotton growing. And it is possible because in Uzbekistan till now the local population is forbidden to have private ownership of agricultural land, these lands belong only to the government, and are used extremely inefficiently. Therefore now in Uzbekistan it is impossible to implement the private initiative of the farmers themselves, which show interest in organic farming methods.
Ahtam Shaymardanov,
California
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