INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 231 November 22, 2016

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November 30, 2016

INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 231 November 22, 2016

 DECEMBER 4 – THE ELECTIONS OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN.. 1

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s meeting with voters of Sirdaryo Region. 1

Sarvar Otamuratov’s meeting with voters of Tashkent Region. 2

economy.. 2

Uzbek pharmaceutical companies produce goods for 711.4bn soums. 2

EXPORT.. 3

Uzbekistan has been rapidly expanding its presence in the food markets of the CIS, Europe and the Middle East 3

Society.. 5

Global standards in covering presidential elections by non-government electronic mass media. 5

Ecology.. 9

Uzbekistan has almost completely abandoned chemical treatment of cotton fields in the fight against diseases and pests. 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DECEMBER 4 – THE ELECTIONS OF PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s meeting with voters of Sirdaryo Region

The candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan from the movement of entrepreneurs and businessmen – the Uzbekistan Liberal-Democratic Party (UzLiDeP), Shavkat Mirziyoyev, met voters of Sirdaryo Region on 19 November.

The meeting was opened by the candidate’s authorised representative, K.Okbutayev.

Candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev made a speech setting out the main points of his electoral programme.

The programme contains tasks and goals directed towards implementing state policy and principles of development specified by the country’s First President Islam Karimov, specifically raising the country’s economy to a new level and improving the people’s quality of life. Specific measures are defined to improve the system of state and public administration, reform the judicial system, strengthen the country’s economic might and raise its competitiveness on the world market, give broad freedom to the small business and private entrepreneurship sphere, expand the income basis of local budgets, develop the social sphere, provide modern housing to people, support young people, raise the quality of medical treatment and services.

Special attention is paid in the programme to such issues as continuing the implementation of the idea “From a strong state to a strong civil society”, developing effective mechanisms of public control, further raising the role and significance of the mahalla (neighbourhood) institution in society, ensuring the reliable protection of citizens’ rights and liberties, firm guarantees of the system of justice, raising the law culture in society, strengthening citizens’ respect for the law and intolerance of offences.

It was noted during the meeting that Sirdaryo Region is developing consistently as are as all the other regions of the country. A programme of 9 March 2015 drawn up in accordance with instructions from the country’s First President to further improve the drainage system, to improve ameliorative conditions and to lower the level of groundwater as well as develop the engineering, communication and social infrastructure of the town of Guliston for 2015-2019 is a guidance document for action to carry out large-scale creative work in the region. New buildings are being built in towns and villages, and people’s living standards are rising.

The Sirdaryo thermal power station, the Sirdaryo branch of the “Jizzakh” free economic zone, the Reka Med Farm joint venture and other industrial facilities have an important place in the country’s economy. Production capacities are increasing with every passing year, and import-substituting and export-oriented products are being produced.

The meeting took place in the format of video conference. Voters who gathered in towns and district centres expressed their opinions on the electoral programme of the candidate.

The chief of the Guliston district department of the republican centre of spirituality, Ye.Madaminov; a labour veteran, R.Abdurahmonov; the deputy director-general of the Temur Med Farm LLC, Sh.Ziyayev, an international grand chess master, Sh.Kurbonova; a Zulfiya state award laureate, M.Abdurasulova; a teacher of the Mirzaobod socio-economic vocational college, N.Meliboyeva; the chief of the Sirdaryo district department of the republican centre of spirituality, A.Mirzakhmedov; and others have said that steady growth rates are being maintained in the country and that Uzbekistan’s prestige in the international community is rising. They called on voters to take an active part in the forthcoming 4 December elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

 (Source: UzA)

Sarvar Otamuratov’s meeting with voters of Tashkent Region

The candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan from the Milliy Tiklanish Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, Sarvar Otamuratov, met voters of Tashkent Region on 18 November.

The meeting, which was held in the format of video conference, was opened by the leader of Milliy Tiklanish Democratic Party deputies’ group in the Tashkent Regional council of people’s deputies, A.Saydullayev.

Sh.Nasimov, authorised representative of the candidate, familiarized those gathered with the candidate’s biography.

Candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sarvar Otamuratov made a speech about his electoral programme.

Tashkent Region is one of the regions of Uzbekistan where industry is developing at a dynamic pace. The Uzbek metallurgy combine joint-stock company, the Almalyk ore-extraction and metallurgy plant, Ahangarancement, Ahangaranshifer, the Novo-Angren and Tashkent thermal power stations and other big industrial enterprises have an important place in the economic development of the country. Tashkent Region accounts for more than 15 per cent of the country’s industrial output and 14 per cent of its exports.

In the candidate’s programme, priority significance is given to issues of strengthening the high law culture and political culture in society and achieving a spiritual revival on the basis of the great historical and cultural heritage, rich spiritual and moral values and traditions. Relying on the principle “People’s spiritual revival is the basis of economic reforms”, the candidate believes that the economy is of decisive significance to the country’s development and to raising the people’s wellbeing.

The candidate proposed such tasks as reducing non-production expenditure, improving the legal basis for the further raising of the effectiveness of the country’s industry, protecting the national market from low-quality products and services that do not meet international standards, through providing effective support for local producers making import-substituting goods, cardinally improving the system of training engineers and technicians, financial experts, economists, managers in the area of corporate management and programmers possessing modern knowledge and qualifications.

In the electoral programme, special attention is paid to issues of protection and promotion of national interests, the steady development of the national economy and the country’s modernization for achieving further spiritual-intellectual progress and developing national information systems and information resources.

The chairman of the Almalyk town department of the Hunarmand association, M.Ulmasova; a labour veteran, N.Juraboyev, the leader of the regional department of the Red Crescent Society of Uzbekistan, N.Koraboyeva; the chairman of the Chinoz district council of the Milliy Tiklanish Democratic Party, Sh.Nizomiddinov; and others expressed their opinions on the electoral programme of the candidate and tasks specified in it. They called on voters to take an active part in the forthcoming 4 December 2016 elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

 (Source: UzA)

economy

Uzbek pharmaceutical companies produce goods for 711.4bn soums

Uzbekistan produced pharmaceutical products for 711.4 billion soums (currency rates of CB RU from 22.11.2016, 1$= 3157.50 soums) in January-September 2016, which grew by 23.7% year-on-year.

Share of industry in total industrial output of Uzbekistan grew from 0.7% to 0.9% in the reporting period, the Uzbek State Statistics Committee said.

The enterprises increased production of provitamins, vitamins and their products – 2 times, medicaments containing other antibiotics – 1.3 times; materials, impregnated or coated with pharmaceutical means- 1.2 times, medicaments containing no hormones or antibiotics – 2.1%, etc.

Main capacities on production of pharmaceutical products are located in Tashkent city (62.7% from total number), Tashkent region (18.1%), Syrdarya region (8.8%), Namangan region (5.8%).

Small enterprises, operating in pharmaceutical industry, increased production by 1.2 times year-on-year in January-September 2016 and their share in total production of the sector exceeded 71.5%.

Currently, 259 enterprises on production of pharmaceutical products and medicaments work in Uzbekistan, of which 55 were created in nine months of 2016.

(Source: UzDaily.com)

EXPORT

Uzbekistan has been rapidly expanding its presence in the food markets of the CIS, Europe and the Middle East

The country’s agro-industrial complex has a great potential, the realization of which to the full would provide not only the traditional partners, but also the most distant corners of the globe with environment friendly and safe food. Uzbekistan Today reporters have explored the main trends in the development of this segment in the framework of the International Fruit and Vegetable Fair in Tashkent.

In Good Taste

Uzbekistan is currently the Central Asia’s largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Over 70,000 farms across the country specialize in growing ‘sunny’ fruits and vegetables, introduce integrated water resources management, up-to-date processing mini-technologies, automated control and quality management systems.

This is the reason why the republic initiated the establishment of a kind of a common platform for contracting fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products, which would bring all participants of the sector together. A similar event has been successfully organized for 12 years in the cotton industry, gathering the biggest cotton business players from around the world in October in Tashkent.

The extra-schedule International Fruit and Vegetable Fair this July in Tashkent was a kind of a rehearsal for the big event. It resulted in 270 contracts for exportation of fruit and vegetables worth more than $2 billion: vegetables made up 27% of exported goods, grapes accounted for 25%, fruits took 20%, dried and processed products – 17.6%, beans – 8.4%, and melons – 2%.

Despite the fact that it was the first step for Uzbekistan in organizing such a big forum in the fruit and vegetable sector, the new trade fair hosted more than 300 foreign participants – heads and representatives of reputable international organizations and state structures of the partner countries, flagship foreign companies, trade networks, processors, transport and logistics centers, banks and financial institutions, researchers, analysts and practitioners in the field of production and exports of fruits and vegetables.

It is important to realize that they are responsible for the lion’s share of supplies of fruit and vegetable products in the CIS, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. All of them, despite busy schedule, came to Tashkent, proving and acknowledging its capacity in this area, as well as quality and taste parameters of Uzbek fruits and vegetables, which are now well marketable on world markets.

More than 150 domestic suppliers and processors of fruits from all regions of Uzbekistan presented their products at IFVF. Exhibition halls demonstrated domestically produced fresh, dried and processed fruits, vegetables, melons and legumes, as well as spices.

The diversity of edible masterpieces was impressive: farmers from Surkhandarya covered the glass floor with fruits and vegetables, and a tree right in the middle of the stand was bestrewed with different fruits of unreal sizes. The tree was studded not just with apples, pomegranates, pears, persimmons and quince, but also with huge watermelons, melons and even pumpkins.

Visitors were enchanted by ‘grape chandeliers’, fruit fountains and walls built of fruits and vegetables. Some compositions of delicious vitamin products of Uzbekistan were crowned with peacocks and Humo birds, artfully carved from melons, adding a special color and originality of the East to the exhibition. Hospitality and ‘taste’ of Uzbekistan could be rated at almost every stand. Manufacturers unfolded rich tables and treated every visitor with their sunny products.

Promising Projects

The last IFVF has become an important event not only in terms of contracting products, but also as a determinant for the future development of the agro-industrial complex.

In recent years, Uzbekistan has turned into a major exporter of high quality and competitive fruit and vegetable products. Previously, the republic traditionally delivered them mainly to Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries, while nowadays agricultural products from Uzbekistan are shipped to markets of over 120 countries around the world. In particular, the map of deliveries has expanded by establishing exports to Indonesia, Norway, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, the USA, Thailand, Japan and other countries.

As emphasized by international experts, exports promise to grow, as Uzbekistan has planned several interesting initiatives in the coming years. By the end of 2020, it is planned to implement 254 investment projects that envisage the establishment of 76 modern processing plants, construction of 155 cold stores, and launch of 23 packaging manufactures.

All the projects will be implemented mainly in rural areas, and specialize in fruit, vegetable and grapes growing. 66 specialized areas have been allocated for projects in each of the regions of Uzbekistan. It is expected that the measures will help to increase the volumes of fruit and vegetable processing in the assigned areas from 18 to almost 30%.

To achieve the abovementioned goals, Uzbekistan adopted a program on the further development of resource capacity, enhanced processing of fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products, increase of production, and exports of food products by 2020. This program alone provides for implementation of 80 promising projects on enhanced processing, establishment of additional capacities on the production of internationally marketable finished products, as well as establishment of new cold storages and chambers for 325,000 tons. The construction and modernization of over 200 cold storages has been completed, increasing the capacity by 100,000 tons this year alone.

Uzbekistan produced 13 million tons in the first nine months of last year, against more than 15 million tons in the reported period of the current year. The bulk of production is represented by vegetables – 10 million tons, 2 million tons of fruits, 1.2 million tons of grapes, and 1.5 million tons of melons and melon crops. By the end of the year, it is planned to bring the indicators to 21 million tons of fruits and vegetables.

Another important project comes to the creation of a ‘green corridor’, which implies a simplified customs and phytosanitary clearance procedure for fruit and vegetable products that are shipped to Russia. As stated at the IFVF, Uzbekistan and Russia intend to sign a package of documents by the end of November, 2016.

According to experts, the corridor would accelerate the transportation, and increase the volume of direct supplies of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables to final customers in various regions of the Russian Federation. Today, the list of major partners of Uzbekistan in Russia includes Siberian Alliance, Magnit, Perekrestok, Agrolile and X5 Retail Group companies.

Since the beginning of 2016, direct deliveries to the Russian Federation and neighboring countries of the region have tripled, in the Republic of Korea – grew by five times, in the UAE – by 1,8 times, Germany – by 1.6 times. Total exports of fruits and vegetables are estimated to grow by 1.4 times in 2016. In 10 months of 2016, Uzbekistan exported nearly 700,000 tons of agricultural products, and by the end of the year this indicator is expected to reach 1 million tons.

There is another advantage for foreign customers – in early 2017 Uzbekistan will launch an international electronic trading platform for selling fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products. The new platform will be one of the main links of a three-stage chain of fruit and vegetable exports, which is currently being built in the country. It will empower online trading and ensure the transparency of transactions.

Established in April, a specialized foreign trade company Uzagroeksport is another link in the system. It is a unified operator of fruit and vegetable supplies to the international market, which allows avoiding intermediaries and increase of production cost. The company is ready to export more than 3 million tons of products annually.

The third link incorporates a wide network of trade houses that are currently being opened in key regions of the world. To date, Uzagroeksport opened four trading houses in Russia and two in Kazakhstan. The construction of trading houses in the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Korea, India and some countries of the European Union is nearing completion. Negotiations are underway in the new markets in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The further expansion of presence in the Russian market, primarily in the Siberian, Far East and Ural regions, is another important component. In the near future, fruit and vegetable products from Uzbekistan will occupy the shelves in biggest supermarket networks of the Russian Federation. Uzbekistan has signed contracts for fruit and vegetable supplies to the Russia’s leading food retailer – X5 Retail Group.

The negotiations on deliveries of Uzbek fruit and vegetables to Russia lasted for several months. The Russian side carefully studied the scheme of product supply, representatives of X5 Retail Group have visited Uzbekistan this summer to personally see the process of growing fruits and vegetables, the conditions of their packaging and processing. They were totally satisfied with their quality and logistics.

Now, agricultural products from Uzbekistan will be presented in 53 constituent entities in the Russian Federation, where X5 Retail Group manages supermarkets of multiple format: neighborhood stores under the Pyaterochka brand, Perekrestok supermarkets, Karusel hypermarkets, and the Perekrestok Express store network. They are a total of more than 7,000 trading entities throughout Russia.

The Uzbek side has also signed a contract for the supply of fruit and vegetable production with Agro-Line company, one of the largest Russia’s suppliers of deep-frozen and chilled meat and fish products, and milk-fat products. The total cost of contracts with X5 Retail Group and Agro-Line reached $117 million.

As noted by international experts at IFVF, the numbers are justs the beginning. There are more contracts ahead, because our fruits and vegetables, grapes and melons are highly marketable in the world market owing to unique taste and, most importantly, useful nutritional properties. Uzbekistan nowadays ranks among the ten leaders in exports of apricots, plums, grapes, nuts and many other agricultural products, and is promising of strengthening these positions in the long term.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

Society

Global standards in covering presidential elections by non-government electronic mass media

The major political event of the year – presidential elections – will be held in Uzbekistan on the 4th of December. Mass media, including non-government TV and radio broadcasters, will take an active part in this process.  

Solid organizational and legal foundations have been built in Uzbekistan for the organization of democratic elections, and significant practical experience has been gained in this field. Special attention is attached to ensuring openness and transparency of the upcoming elections, which depend largely on the activities of mass media.

On the 21st of September the Central Election Commission (CEC) jointly with the National Association of Electronic Mass Media (NAEMM) of Uzbekistan signed a bilateral agreement on the preparation for and coverage of presidential elections in Uzbekistan.

The next step was a general conference of the NAEMM members, held at the “Bunyodkor” youth multimedia complex, and aimed at the preparation for and coverage of presidential elections, at which was discussed and approved the elections’ coverage Program with plans to hold a number of events in six directions.

The first direction has an outlined plan to conduct training seminars facilitated by national experts for representatives of non-government electronic mass media for raising the level of journalists’ legal awareness in covering the election campaign.

A training seminar was held, in particular, by CEC experts on the subject “Legal foundations of electing president of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Calendar of major pre-election and election campaign events”.

Another training seminar, devoted to covering the pre-election and election campaigns in mass media with the help of talk-programs for Editors-in-Chief of non-government TV stations and creative groups, was conducted with the participation of Davron Olimov, senior researcher at the Institute of Monitoring the Acting Legislation under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Sherzod Qudratkhojayev, chair of journalism faculty at the National University of Uzbekistan.

The National Association of Electronic Mass Media hosted a meeting with the experts of the Needs Assessment Mission, who had arrived in our country under the leadership of Alexander Shlyk, chief of OSCE ODIHR Department on elections, and the Department councilor Ulvi Akhundlu (Azerbaijan).

The OSCE ODIHR takes decisions in accordance with the established practice on the expediency of monitoring the elections, its format, duration and the required number of observers on the results of assessment of pre-election situation, course of preparation for elections, and analysis of national legislation’s compliance with the generally accepted international standards.

At the meeting with the NAEMM members the international experts were able to get acquainted with the activities of non-government TV and radio broadcasting channels on covering the presidential election campaign in Uzbekistan.

“We have already spent two days in Uzbekistan. I have to state outright that our meetings have been quite fruitful. Soon we will be able to summarize our observations. It is a bit early to speak about the first results, because the observation process is still in progress,” Alexander Shlyk said.

It should be noted that later the OSCE ODIHR passed a decision to send a full-scale observers’ mission for the first time to Uzbekistan with consideration of our country’s readiness to conduct open and transparent elections in accordance with internationals standards.

The OSCE projects coordinator in the country, John McGregor, also paid a visit to NAEMM on the 21st of October. He familiarized himself with the Association’s activities and discussed its plans for the future. He attended a presentation of media products devoted to the coverage of the election process by non-government TV and radio broadcasting stations.

“The OSCE projects’ coordinators in Uzbekistan and the NAEMM have been cooperating on the basis of mutual trust over a number of years. We do, certainly, have much to do ahead, but the results achieved so far will have to be assessed positively. I have been convinced in the course of my visit that great preparation work is going on for presidential elections in Uzbekistan,” John McGregor noted.

The second direction envisages conducting events with the participation of international experts with the aim of demonstrating the opportunities and conditions created for non-government electronic mass media for expression of their active civic stances.

Thus, a series of training seminars under the leadership of foreign experts was launched on the 23rd of October. Independent journalist Birgit Wetzel (Germany) conducted a workshop on the subject “How to make use of international experience and innovative resources and cover major public events in a country in creating information radio content”.

The main attention at the seminar was paid to raising the theoretical knowledge of NAEMM Information Center’s creative workers through foreign experience and innovative coverage resources. Trainings on covering pre-election processes and the elections proper were conducted for the young journalists. Focus was made on an interesting radio information and, eventually, on the quality media products.

A seminar on the topical issue “International experience in covering major events and program in talk-shows” was facilitated by Rene Falkner, President of the Federal Association of German TV companies. Its objective was to boost the professional skills and competencies of the creative group in the ‘talk-show’ format, which is quite popular throughout the world.

Training seminars were held with journalists, who produce special public videos and documentary films at the initiative of NAEMM, in partnership with the Regional Representation Office of the Conrad Adenauer Foundation for Central Asia.

Training sessions on the subjects ‘International experience in preparation of media products of social significance’, ‘Innovative methods of filming social videos’ and “Preparation of documentaries about the life of the youth” were organized within the framework of the training seminar “Preparation of socially significant media products for the youth based on international experience.”

Specialist from France Mohens Schmidt, senior UNESCO consultant, facilitated a training seminar for the creative group of the ‘STV’ TV channel in the city of Samarkand on November 13-14, 2016.

“Innovative promotion methods via media content multimedia platforms and social networks” was the title of a training seminar organized for web-journalists with the participation of Amandine Ambregni, Editor-in-Chief of the AFP and deputy head of department of social networks (Paris, France).

Expert of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, representative on the problems of mass media freedoms, chairperson of the creative Union of journalists of Lithuania and Board member of the Radio and Television of Lithuania Dainus Radzyavichus familiarized himself with the activities of non-government TV and radio broadcasting stations, which operate in Ferghana and Marghilon. In the course of his visit, the foreign expert had highly evaluated the election media products prepared by TV stations.

The third and fourth directions have plans to prepare operative and reliable news by NAEMM Radio information center and non-government TV and radio broadcasters’ information services aimed at wider coverage of the election campaign.

263 reports, 126 story information and 63 social opinion survey reports have been prepared and broadcast so far.

Preparation and broadcasting of more than 100 information articles and about 150 pieces of TV products in other genres are expected to be transmitted at the next stage.

8 social videos, 10-15 announcements, “Election diary” program and such other information materials, 910 media contents in all, are being broadcast on a daily basis.

400 radio materials related to different genres are expected to be prepared and broadcast during the days to follow.

The fifth direction includes preparation of social media product, TV reels and Radio clips aimed at explaining the elections’ essence and significance, major voting provisions and procedures, operation of voting stations, and such other issues.

Social media product assumes daily screening of more than 20 commercials broadcast by 25 TV stations.

The sixth direction outlined plans to prepare talk programs on the electoral subjects with the participation of representatives of the CEC, political parties, presidential candidates’ proxies and other persons involved, and transmitting them via air-time of the non-government TV and radio broadcasters.

20 “My voice” talk programs have been planned for transmission timed to elections, these include the following topics: “President – who is he?” “The culture of elections”, “Role and significance of political parties in the election campaign and the legal foundations of pre-election campaigning” and others   10 “Mening ovozim” (My voice) talk shows with the participation of representatives of the CEC, political parties, the candidates’ authorized persons, deputies of Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis and the youth have been prepared and broadcast 20 times.

The participants of the “Mening ovozim” talk show during its shooting discussed the questions of the role and significance of the mass media in the course of presidential elections.

Presenter of this interesting MY5 TV channel program Nasiba Fakhritdinova asked the youth and girls critical questions inviting them for an open discussion.

Initially was screened a sociological survey, carried out by TV staff members right on the streets of Tashkent. And in the course of the social survey young people, while responding to the question where did they get information from, referred, in the first place, to TV and Internet.

Foreign experts were directly contacted with during the program. Dainus Radzyavichus shared the European experience in covering the elections, while a journalist from Baku Tural Aliyev spoke about a public survey during a telebridge, which revealed the most important sources of information in the course of election campaign in Azerbaijan.

The NAEMM, jointly with its domestic and foreign partners, is going to host an international “round table” meeting on the subject “Application of international standards in covering the election of president of the Republic of Uzbekistan by non-government TV and radio broadcasting studios: national experience and the global practices” on the 18th of November within the framework of an extensive work on the preparation for the elections.

Domestic and foreign experts will discuss at the “round table” the educational and enlightenment projects organized by NAEMM for raising up the legal culture, professional skills and technical mastership of non-government mass media employees of Uzbekistan and elaborate recommendations on the democratic coverage of electoral processes on the basis of advanced countries’ experiences.

In conclusion we will note that the conducted training seminars and talk shows enabled to work out quite a number of questions on the further activities in covering the election campaign. The journalists received answers to their numerous questions, which will help improve the quality of published materials made ready for broadcasting TV and radio programs.

The process of democratization of public life places responsible tasks before the mass media of Uzbekistan on keeping the public more efficiently informed, while the continuously increased level of mass media will have to promote fuller realization of the citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of speech. The activities carried out by NAEMM in this direction enable to achieve the set targets in a coordinated and systemic basis, thus creating in the country a larger platform for the further development of media industry.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

Ecology

Uzbekistan has almost completely abandoned chemical treatment of cotton fields in the fight against diseases and pests

Back in the early 1990s, one of the principal measures taken to eradicate the main cotton pest, the cotton bollworm, was about chemical treatment of fields, which was applied 3-4 times on average per season in farms across the republic, and more than 10-12 times in certain areas.

The combat against cotton diseases and pests is essential in terms of increasing yields of this crop. However, the chemical treatment that was widely used in the Soviet era led to a sharp deterioration of the ecological situation in rural areas, and environmental pollution. For this reason, the country had to find another way.

In order to protect the environment, improve product quality and working conditions, Uzbekistan has implemented an integrated system of plant protection, which envisages the maximum use of biological methods against cotton pests. To date, the proportion of biological method has exceeded 90%. More than 700 biological laboratories and bio-factories, which deal with entomophage (beneficial insects) breeding, are successfully operating in the country to combat cotton pests.

54,000 farms are engaged in the cultivation of the ‘white gold’ in Uzbekistan, producing over 3 million tons of raw cotton annually. There are currently 86 cotton-producing countries in the world, and 33 of them annually harvest more than 100,000 tons of raw cotton and only eight countries produce more than 1 million tons. In the last five years, Uzbekistan has been the world’s sixth largest producer, and the fifth exporter of cotton fiber.

(Source: «Uzbekistan Today» newspaper)

 

 

 

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