Turkmen Farmers' Hands Still Tied
Turkmen Farmers' Hands Still Tied
While the Turkmen government appears to recognise the need for farming reforms, there are certain obstacles to success it must clear out of the way first, not least by allowing farmers to grow what they want, say local analysts.
Addressing a cabinet meeting where food provision was discussed on July 10, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov said there was a need to develop a “more flexible approach” so as to make Turkmen agriculture more productive in the light of rising international prices.
To achieve this, the authorities plan to provide the agriculture sector with modern technology, high-yield farming methods, and more capacity to store and process grain.
Berdymuhammedov first announced plans for agricultural reform last year, shortly after his election as president. But despite new laws that were supposed to change the status of private farms, they have remained heavily reliant on the state for approval, funding and land. Although Turkmen land legislation makes it legally possible to acquire ownership of a piece of farmland, that rarely happens in practice and land is still generally leased from the state
In addition, the government still instructs the theoretically independent private farmers which crops to grow, and in what volume. And under the “state order” system, the government buys up their produce at prices it has set itself.
The policy forces farmers into growing cotton and wheat for the state rather vegetables or livestock which they could sell or eat themselves.
Shohrat, a farmer from the northern Dashoguz region, said the government would only fulfill its wish to satisfy domestic demand for food if it moved away from dictatorial central planning policies, and allowed real private ownership of the land.
Vegetable farmer Oraz-Aga agreed, saying that for the past few years he has been forced to grow cotton on the field he leases from the state.
“An unfree farmer will always feel himself to be a day-labourer, a temporary worker,” he said. “Peasants who are entirely dependent on the state will never be able to use their potential to the full.”
NBCentralAsia observers say these factors – the “state order” for crops and the restrictions on owning land – are constraints on the development of agriculture.
One local agriculture expert saw it as regrettable that the president “did not say a word” about either in his speech.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
Addressing a cabinet meeting where food provision was discussed on July 10, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov said there was a need to develop a “more flexible approach” so as to make Turkmen agriculture more productive in the light of rising international prices.
To achieve this, the authorities plan to provide the agriculture sector with modern technology, high-yield farming methods, and more capacity to store and process grain.
Berdymuhammedov first announced plans for agricultural reform last year, shortly after his election as president. But despite new laws that were supposed to change the status of private farms, they have remained heavily reliant on the state for approval, funding and land. Although Turkmen land legislation makes it legally possible to acquire ownership of a piece of farmland, that rarely happens in practice and land is still generally leased from the state
In addition, the government still instructs the theoretically independent private farmers which crops to grow, and in what volume. And under the “state order” system, the government buys up their produce at prices it has set itself.
The policy forces farmers into growing cotton and wheat for the state rather vegetables or livestock which they could sell or eat themselves.
Shohrat, a farmer from the northern Dashoguz region, said the government would only fulfill its wish to satisfy domestic demand for food if it moved away from dictatorial central planning policies, and allowed real private ownership of the land.
Vegetable farmer Oraz-Aga agreed, saying that for the past few years he has been forced to grow cotton on the field he leases from the state.
“An unfree farmer will always feel himself to be a day-labourer, a temporary worker,” he said. “Peasants who are entirely dependent on the state will never be able to use their potential to the full.”
NBCentralAsia observers say these factors – the “state order” for crops and the restrictions on owning land – are constraints on the development of agriculture.
One local agriculture expert saw it as regrettable that the president “did not say a word” about either in his speech.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
