A study of the economic, social and environmental factors in contemporary Uzbekistan's rural development and their effects on the economy and society of the country as a whole. Special attention is given to problems of water resources and irrigation, agricultural problems and reforms, population growth and migration, and food supply, all in the context of Uzbekistan's diverse regions.

Gender equality is a key to eliminating poverty and hunger, as it has been demonstrated by the FAO throughout its research worldwide. As part of the FAO efforts on generating evidence and knowledge, and in compliance with the FAO Policy on Gender Equality, the purpose of the Country Gender Assessment for Uzbekistan is to contribute to the production of knowledge for better informed, targeted and gender sensitive actions in agriculture and rural development. It has been produced as it is required in the FAO Policy on Gender Equality, and was validated in a high-level national workshop with representatives from the government, civil society, international organizations, academia and ambassadors.

This book was prepared under the framework of TCP/UZB/3501: Institutional capacity building to develop organic agriculture and to promote good agriculture practices in Uzbekistan to provide guidance to the stakeholders. This book brings together the status of organic agriculture in Uzbekistan including, market, legal standards, methods, experiences and useful methods and basic information that can be of immediate use for identifying problems and for formulating, executing and evaluating actions so as to benefit and improve organic production. The publication can also serve as a reference that will allow researchers, specialists and farmers to discover jointly, ways to adopt organic agriculture practices and solve the problems and the limitations created by traditional agriculture. This book is meant for researchers, agricultural specialists, extension personnel as well as farmers, and deals with the management and conservation of agricultural land. It is hoped that the Book will help to attain the ultimate objective of increasing quality of agricultural products and improving the productivity of the soils and water in a rapid, efficient and sustainable.

This is the first detailed "grass roots" account of Uzbekistan's protracted decollectivisation process. It explores continuity and the change in relations between rural communities, agricultural producers, and the local state authorities in the cotton-growing region of Khorezm. Built up during the Soviet period, the cotton sector has maintained its importance for the state and for rural communities in the years following independence, although economic parameters and social conditions have worsened significantly. Uzbekistan's agricultural reform path does not follow that of most post-socialist scenarios and continuity with the past remains strong. Despite seeming immobility, the local view on rural society presented in this book unveils an unexpectedly dynamic situation, characterized by shifts in patronage relations, struggles over legitimacy, and transformations in family structure and community life. Poised between the state, their communities, and an emerging stratum of absentee farm "sponsors," the focus is on the new farmers ("fermer") and their struggles for a place in rural society. What emerges from decollectivisation is a complexly articulated new agrarian concern: its new inequalities are rooted in the political economy of cotton. (Series: Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia - Vol. 23)

This book summarizes a long-term research project addressing land and water use in the irrigated areas of the Aral Sea basin. In an interdisciplinary approach, natural and human sciences are combined to elucidate the challenges of economic transition that affect the use of land, water and biological resources, ecological sustainability, economic efficiency and the livelihoods of the local population. The research focuses on Khorezm, a region in Uzbekistan, located on the Amudarya river, in the heart of Central Asia. A series of chapters describes the biophysical environment and the aspects of society and institutions that shape land and water use. The book discusses options and tools to improve land and water management, and to reform the economic system management, based on agronomic, hydrological, economic ans social studies and modeling. The insights are not only important for Uzbekistan, but for all countries in transitions and irrigated dryland areas elsewhere.

Guaranteeing food security is of critical importance for Central Asia region due to its landlocked nature, big numbers and low incomes of rural population, and transition from planned centralized economy to the market economy. During the transition from planned to market economies, the Central Asian Republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) experienced rising poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition as well as serious degradation of natural resources, in particular of water and land. The transition to a market oriented economy has not been adequately supported by institutional development which resulted in a decline in the living standards of the population and which has further caused in high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. This contribution provides an empirical examination of the current state and prospects of food and nutrition security in rural area of Uzbekistan. The goal of the present study was to determine the main factors influencing food and nutrition status of farm households such as the level of education and income, kind and number of crops produced on homestead plot and on farm land, profitability of these crops, etc. The main methodological instrument for analysis was the logistic regression modeling. The contribution is finalized by author’s recommendations for further improvement of food and nutrition security in Uzbekistan.