Uzbekistan harvests more than 5 million tons of cotton for the first time — record announced in the president's congratulation

A record harvest and the president's congratulations

More than 5 million tons of cotton have been harvested in Uzbekistan. This is stated in the congratulatory message of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, addressed to dehkans and farmers, cluster employees and industry specialists; the text of the address has been published on the head of state's website.

What has changed compared with previous years

The congratulatory message emphasizes that, as part of the reforms, cotton planting areas have been reduced by 38%, the cotton monopoly and forced labor have been completely banned, and the introduction of scientific achievements and modern agricultural technologies has made it possible to raise yields 2.7-fold. Historical benchmarks are cited: in the Soviet period cotton was sown on almost 2 million hectares with yields of no more than 30 centners, in 2000 3 million tons were harvested from 1.4 million hectares, and this year the country's average yield rose from 21 to 56 centners per hectare. Thanks to water-saving technologies, water consumption has been halved compared with the 1990s.

Record-setting farms and regional results

Over the season, about a thousand farms and clusters reached the 100-centners-per-hectare mark. The absolute record was set by Anorboy Eshmatov from the Pakhtakor district and Ulugbek Sopiev from the Jarkurgan district — 110 centners per hectare each. Among districts, the largest volume delivered was shown by the Koson district (110 thousand tons), followed by Mirishkor (105 thousand), Kasbi (95 thousand), Nishan (90 thousand), Mirzachul (85 thousand) and Mirzaabad (81 thousand tons). In the Jizzakh, Khorezm, Bukhara, Navoi and Syrdarya regions, yields exceeded 60 centners; in Karakalpakstan, which is considered an area of severe environmental conditions, the yield rose by 10–15 centners, and the gross harvest exceeded 400 thousand tons.

Mechanization, finances and next year's task

85% of the harvest was collected by more than 3,000 cotton-picking machines in 30–35 days; in the Jizzakh and Syrdarya regions the harvest was fully mechanized. According to the financial estimates given in the congratulatory message, farms expect to receive about 13–14 trillion soums in net profit from cotton this year. In addition, at International Cotton Day in Tashkent, representatives of more than 30 countries proposed locating the World Cotton Center in Uzbekistan. For next year, the task has been set to raise the country's average yield to 65–70 centners per hectare through the widespread use of high-yield seed varieties, agricultural drones, water- and energy-saving technologies, and artificial intelligence systems.