Record Harvest Comes at a High Cost

President Saparmurat Niazov has announced a record harvest of 3.5 million tons of grain, but farmers in Turkmenistan say the figure does not reflect the truth.

Niazov made the claim on August 15 while signing a contract to buy a large consignment of agricultural equipment from the American company Case New Holland.

Provincial governments in Turkmenistan, under pressure to achieve record harvest figures, imposed requisitioning on farmers to cover up for the lack of grain delivered to the state.

Members of the Yassydep farmers’ association in the Serdarabat district of the eastern Lebap region, for instance, were forced to hand over a portion of the wheat they had grown on their own plots of land. Each family had to hand over 100 kilograms of wheat, according to one farmer.

According to an anonymous source at Serdarabat’s local government office, this “tax” was levied on the entire population of the district in a bid to close the gap between what state purchasers reported in their official statistics and the amount they actually collected. The statistical report on wheat production was further boosted by adding in the remaining amount that farmers grew on private plots and kept for themselves.

A tenant farmer who belongs to a different farmers’ association in Serdarabat, called Vatan, said a typical household would gather 200 kilograms of grain for its own needs, but was now forced to give away half of it to the state. Since that 200 kg would produce 140 kg of flour, it is obvious the reduction will leave many families – often consisting of five or six people – in a difficult position over the winter.

The levy was imposed after the farmers’ associations had already delivered the entire crop grown on their leased lands to the state, and affected instead the wheat they grew on their private plots, which they worked on mainly in the evenings.

The record harvest cited by Niazov has not changed the fixed amounts of flour set aside for the public: four kg per person in urban areas and eight in rural areas. These notional figures do not mean everyone gets the full amount; stocks of flour in the shops are low and erratic.

Analysts note that Niazov’s strategy of making Turkmenistan self-sufficient in grain is dependent on annual production increases by a greatly strengthened wheat-growing sector.

Provincial government has to make every effort to fulfil the president’s wishes. In addition to farmers, they force public organisations and institutions to grow wheat as well. All over Turkmenistan, the heads of state enterprises are made responsibility for some plot of land where wheat must be grown. The head of one institution in Lebap region said she had to abandon her main job and spend days in the fields. If the state production order is not met, both she and the farmers will be held accountable.

Even though the sector clearly cope with present production levels, the president’s plan envisages wheat output rising by 200% by the year 2020. The relevant government departments are constantly on the lookout for new pieces of land suitable for wheat growing.

Over 500 residents of Bezengi, on the southern outskirts of Ashgabat, have felt the impact of this policy. Their land is considered fertile, so for the last two months, residential have been being demolished. The houses were homes built in the early Nineties on land which President Niazov gifted to the country’s artists’ unions. Under a decree passed in July, all this land has been transferred to the defence ministry so that it can grow wheat.

No compensation is being offered to the displaced residents. Instead, they are being offered new plots of land in Choganly, on the north side of Ashgabat, where they will have to start from scratch again.