沙漠研究 22-1, 179 -182 (2012 )"ICAL 1 / DT X"

Journal of Arid Land Studies－Refereed Paper－

Revitalizing Silk-Road Silk Industry- A Case Study in Fergana Region, Uzbekistan Masaaki YAMADA*1), Yoshiko KAWABATA2), Makoto IIKUBO1),
Aparin VYACHESLAV3) and Siaw ONWONA-AGYEMAN1)
Abstract: This study discusses potentials and limitations to reforming traditional sericulture in Central Asia, which is said to have its
four-millennium history but has been in a constant decline since the demise of Soviet Union in 1991. Uzbekistan alone produced
23,500 t of cocoon (US$79,252,000) in 2008, contributing to about five percent of the world production. It was the third largest
cocoon producer after China and India, while being the world champion in terms of per capita production. In this period, 44% ofUzbek labor force was still in the agricultural sector, which contributed only to 22% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP),and yet 26% of the nation was below poverty line, of which the majority presumably resided in the rural villages. Considering these
conditions, the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) launched a grass-root technical cooperation project inFergana Basin in 2009, financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in order to revitalize local silk production as amodel case in Uzbekistan. It was assumed that sericulture was managed by family farms, mainly by women and elders at home, andgood income was earned by them in short period of time, so that it would contribute to more balanced distribution of agricultural
income among the different farmer classes and genders. After a year of project implementation, interviews were made with thebeneficiaries on their perspectives of sericulture promotion, and key factors that would facilitate sustainable cocoon production in
Uzbekistan were identified, i.e., flexible planning of production and prompt payment to farmers. While Chinese brokers wereactively purchasing cocoons for export, there were promising signs of local institutions in improving silkworm lines and filaturefacilities. There international technical cooperation was needed with sensible modifications so that it may be accepted well by Uzbek
farmers.
Key Words: Bombyx mori, CIS, Mulberry, ODA, Rural development

1. Introduction
Uzbekistan is located along the ancient Silk Road ofCentral Asia, where systematic sericulture started in the 4th
Century AD A). It has become famous for colorful silk ikat
‘atlas’ with arrow-featured splash patterns, and even hadbanknote printed on silk in the early 19th Century AD B). Afterthe dissolution of former Soviet Union in 1991, the Uzbek
silkworm cocoon production overtook that of Japan in 1993 to
become the fourth largest producer of the world, and in 1996,
eventually passed that of Brazil to be the third producer after
China and India C). However, due to economic turmoil after
the independence, Uzbek cocoon production dropped from33,000 t in 1990 to 21,000 t in 1997, when the government of
Uzbekistan requested the Japanese government to dispatch
sericulture expert for technical cooperation D). In 1998, thepublic corporation Uzbek Ipagi Association was founded by
the President’s decree to control from mulberry cultivation tosilk processing. Currently Uzbekistan is the first country in

the world by per capita cocoon production, and more than 80%of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) cocoon
production comes from Uzbekistan E).
Meanwhile, Chinese monopolistic dominance in the global
silk cocoon market advanced since early 1990s to reach aroundthree quarters of the world production C). In April 2005, theFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United
Nations organized in Tashkent the International Workshop on
Revival and Promotion of Sericultural Industries and SmallEnterprise Development in the Black, Caspian Seas andCentral Asia Region. Twelve countries including Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republicof Korea, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan
participated in the forum. Its main purpose was to create
partnership among the governments, internationalorganizations and NGOs for reviewing together ‘the causes andeffects of what went wrong during the last 15 years (since theend of the Soviet Union), and how to fix it right next F). They
discussed about policy and financial supports, sharing
experiences, scientific knowledge, practical technologies and* Corresponding author: masaakiy@cc.tuat.ac.jp
3-5-8, Saiwaicho, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-8509, JAPAN
1) Institute of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan
2) International Center, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan

3) Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology Institute, Ministry of Geology of Republic of Uzbekistan, Republic of Uzbekistan

markets in the region, complementing demand and supply forvarious sericultural resources within the region, reaching out toother regions of the world in search of opportunities fortechnology transfer to and from, resources and informationexchange, trade/enterprise development and catching up withrecent trends of consumer tastes, etc. Based on therecommendation of the workshop, the Black, Caspian Seas andCentral Asia Silk Association (BACSA) was established for
promotion of sericulture production in the thirteen countries,
namely Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia,
Greece, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey,
Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The association had goals to; 1)
generate sericulture projects from external resources, including
bilateral and multilateral cooperation; 2) sensitize respective
governments and prospective donors; 3) promote local andregional joint efforts which allow the cooperation between the
countries of the Black, Caspian seas region and Central Asia todevelop concrete actions that fortify the sustainable
development of the sericulture in the region; 4) promotemaking agreements for international scientific-technicalcooperation and business relations between the countries
involved; and 5) promote market studies, training, anddispersion of sericultural germplasm, and silkworm eggs.
With this political and economic backdrop, the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) chose sericulture as
one of the targets of technical cooperation for rural developmentin Uzbekistan since late 1990s. The Tokyo University ofAgriculture and Technology (TUAT), which was founded morethan a century ago in the course of Japan’s modernization withsilkworm science and textile engineering as origins ofAgriculture and Engineering Faculties today, launched its
project ‘Revitalization of the Silk Road Silk Industry in
Uzbekistan - Developing a Rural Income Generation Model by
the Improved Sericulture in Fergana Valley,’ funded by JICA’s
grassroots technical cooperation scheme from 2009 through2012. In February 2011, at the occasion of the 10th
Japan-Uzbekistan Joint Economic Conference in Tokyo, amemorandum of understanding (MOU) on technicalcooperation for sericultural development was signed between
Mr. Ilkhom Khaidarov, Chairman of the State Joint-Stock
Company Uzbekengilsanoat and Dr. Hajime Fugo, Vice-Deanof Faculty of Agriculture (current Vice-President) of TUAT andrepresentative of the grassroots technical cooperation project G).

2. Methods
The authors prepared a questionnaire in Japanese which
was translated to Uzbek language by Ms. Shohijahon, a local
staffer of the TUAT technical cooperation project andUzbek-Japanese translator, who administered the questionnaireFig. 1. Survey sites Yozyovon and Vodil Counties in the Uzbek
Fergana Region. (modified form UNEP/GRID-ARENDAL by
Novikov V. and Rekacewicz P. 2005).

on her routine visit to the project participants at Yozyovon County(40°39'41" N, 71°44'37" E) of Fergana Province (Fig. 1), from
June through December 2010. The questionnaire asked theparticipant farmers, of their family members including age,gender, education, job and income, and family assets including
buildings, machines and livestock, farm land tenancy,
agricultural inputs and crop production. Besides, thefollowing questions were addressed: motive of their project
participation, interim evaluation/impression of the project,experience of sericulture in the past, future perspectives ofsericulture (promises and limitations), mulberry resources(access to fodder, byproducts, and problems including pests)
and open-ended discussion about their life, side business,
farmland and challenges. In September 2010, the authors
conducted field visits to Yozyovon County and Vodil County(40°10'26" N, 71°43'39" E) of Fergana Province (Fig. 1) for
observations of mulberry plantations and silkworm-rearing
rooms, and interviews with the participant farmers withinterpretations provided by Ms. Shohijahon.

3. Results and Discussion
Out of fifty two (52) participants of TUAT project inYozyovon County, twenty one (21) participants answered tothe questionnaire at the five villages namely Khonobod (1),Korasokol (2), Kotortol (8), Ishtirkhon (6), and Chulguliston(4). Besides, in Vodil Coounty, the head of Vodil 1 Village
and other participant farmers invited the authors to two of theirsilkworm-rearing rooms (Fig. 2). Women and old people
assumed high responsibilities in taking care of the silkworms H)
as discussed by Kumar (1992).
The image of local farmers was similar to that discussed by
Veldwisch and Spoor (2008), as the medium-sized fermers andthe small dekhan peasants were identified in the questionnaire,Fig. 2.

A silkworm-rearing room in Vodil 1 Village, Vodil County of
Fergana Province. TUAT Visiting Professor Makoto Iikubo,
Program Manager of the JICA grass-roots technical cooperation
project (second from the left), with his assistant Ms. Shohijahon(right), giving instructions to the female participant (center) on
feeding young autumn silkworms layed out on the bed in front(2010/09/01).

interviews and observations. The fermers, upon their good
reputation, social standing and political skills, received
long-term land rent contract (nine fermers ranged from 15 to
115 hectares in our survey) from the state through local
administration. They organized farm enterprises consisted of
their own family members, and relatives and friends who were
dekhan peasants themselves. The fermers were often
influential community leaders but their positions were not
fixed; a fermer enterprise member might become an‘independent’ fermer upon receiving contracted land from thestate, which could have been a withdrawn land lot from his/her
former boss fermer. The physical conditions of the contracted
farmland were variable, including wetland, saline soils andupland orchards/mulberry fields. The interviewed fermers
said they were obligated by the state to fulfill their quota
production of cotton, wheat and cocoons, the threestate-monopoly products, and to take care of orchards planted
before, i.e., mostly in the Soviet era, on the contracted land(some fermers had purchased such orchard trees from the state).
The wetlands and saline soils were left ‘free’ use for thecontracted fermers (Veldwisch and Spoor 2008), where theyplanted rice, sunflower, corn and other crops for market sales.
Besides, orchard production (including mulberry if they were
saved for fruiting) was also allowed to sell at the market.
Meanwhile, in this research five farmers were found renting
relatively small two (2) to six (6) hectares from the state, where
500 to 11,000 mulberry trees were planted. Besides cocoon
production once a year from April to May, they produced
potato, onion, carrot and some fruits for market sales. These
five farmers listed their work for cotton harvest from
September to November, presumably at fermer enterprises

nearby. Other six farmers were typical dekhan peasants.
All farmers surveyed had 0.2 to 0.5 hectare of private
garden lot around their residences, where they planted
vegetables and fruits such as potato, carrot, tomato, cucumber,
eggplant, bell pepper, chili pepper, pea, soybean, watermelon,
melon, onion, cabbage, red beat, garlic, apple, apricot,
pomegranate, persimmon, pear, grape, almond, fig and walnut.
These products were mainly for family consumption, and soldat the market when surplus was produced. They raised one tosix heads of cattle, zero to fifteen heads of sheep, ten to thirty
free-range chickens on yard, and dogs and cats. The largest
fermer also listed twenty ducks and two hives of honey bees.
Feces of cattle and other confined domestic animals were usedas organic fertilizers for home gardens and orchards.
Chemical fertilizers were applied in the farms of cotton andwheat. Farm houses were made of adobe, wood and slate,having three to ten living rooms (with the largest fermer had
exceptional twenty rooms), where two to three generations
working on and/or off farm live together, plus bathroom(s),kitchen(s), toilet(s), vegetable storage, and sheds for domestic
animals. The silkworms occupied the living rooms. As they
grew large and spread out, some dekhan peasants had to giveup their rooms to silkworms and slept outside at night under theeaves, according to the interview with them. While thepeasants had a bicycle or at best a motorcycle for their meansof transportation, the fermers were equipped with tractors,
trucks and classic Soviet sedans.
All these farmers from the fermers to the dekhan peasantshad been rearing silkworms over generations, particularly aspring breed from April through May, in the slack season on
farm between planting of spring wheat in March and plantingof cotton in late May. In the early spring from February
through March, farmers pruned mulberry trees for their better
leaf production. Fall breed had not been raised for long time
due to the busiest cotton harvest season from September
through November, when all farming family members
including students and off-farm employees had to suspend theirwork for picking cotton on farm. However, as the demand ofsilk in Uzbekistan was rapidly increasing, the government
wanted to augment its production, and TUAT launched fall
bleed trial with Vodil 1 villagers (Fig. 2) which eventually
failed due to shortage of mulberry leaves infested nationwide
by the mulberry pyralid (Diaphania (Glyphodes) pyloalis
Walker), and by the 80% death of fifth instars intoxicated fromthe defoliator attached on mulberry leaves, which was applied
to nearby cotton fields for facilitating cotton harvest I).
According to the TUAT project participants, when they
were first invited by the head of cocoon collection office in
Yozyovon County to join the project, some old farmers
remembered of the Soviet era when the state provided themwith a good Japanese breed that produced hard and large
cocoons. Another farmer said he expected Japanese would
buy their product with better price. Other seventeen (17)farmers answered to the questionnaire that they were justcurious about foreign silkworms. On April 9th and 10th of
2010, the hatched Japanese breed silkworms were transferredfrom the egg paper to mulberry leaves on the rearing bed, while
Uzbek breed silkworms were installed on April 18th I). As aresult of this advancement for eight to nine days, the Japanesesilkworms efficiently consumed the whole, fresh and soft
mulberry leaves of earlier spring. The farmers unanimously
commented “they ate less mulberry leaves than we expected”
and “never let us run after the fodder in short,” but so “made us
worry if there was anything wrong with the silkworms and theymight all die.” Some experienced fermers said they “noticed
very little leftover of mulberry leaves from the first to third
instars,” and “found no diseases,” and that the participant
farmers “harvested larger, harder and heavier cocoons thanthose of local breeds, before the advent of hot summer days.”
All farmers responded that they were satisfied with theoutcome, and became confident of rearing foreign silkworm
breed. However, the Japanese technical expert Prof. Iikubo,
who periodically circulated among the participant farms during
the silkworm-rearing season, observed that the Uzbek farmers
were well experienced with silkworms over generations, hadbasic knowledge and skills as their advantage in technology
transfer, while they had a strong traditional value forged by the
local market where quantity was prioritized than the quality of
cocoons. Hence, dense population of silkworms on their beds,
inadequate timing for spinning, insufficient time allowed for
pupation and incomplete selection of cocoons were still left as
their major challenges I). These types of shortcomings should
probably be addressed by systematic training programs(Srinivasa et al., 2007; Singhvi and Katiyar, 2010) together
with ongoing on-site instructions. Besides, as many farmers
hesitantly expressed their humble wish, flexible planning of thenational cocoon production and prompt cash payment onreceipt of cocoons, without delay for months to years, should
be fundamental conditions for motivating farmers to increase
production quality as well as quantity. While brokers from
China and other countries were actively looking for Uzbek
cocoons for export, promising signs of local institutions wereobserved in improving silkworm lines and filature facilities.

4. Conclusion
Uzbek tradition of cocoon production could be successfully

revived and improved with international technical cooperation
if sensible modifications were made for local farmers, and if
the state would take measures to gradually deregulate cocoon
marketing, which would prompt adequate and timely payments
to the producers and thus motivate them for increased quality
production.

Notes (web links valid as of 2011/05/15)
A) Encyclopædia Britannica Online
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/621059/Uzbe
kistan/73635/Agriculture?anchor=ref598913
B) Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan
http://www.sanat.orexca.com/eng/4-09/bogoslovskaya_gol
ender.shtml
C) ProdSTAT of FAOSTAT
http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx
D) Natl. Inst. of Sericultural and Entomological Sci. - NISES
http://www.nias.affrc.go.jp/newsletter/sansikonchu/n40/n40
uzu.htmE) Uzbek Ipagi Association
http://www.helene.vrc.uz/silk/asso.html
F) Black, Caspian Seas and Central Asia Silk Association
http://www.bacsa-silk.org/en/the-tashkent-workshop-2005/
G) Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology - TUAT
http://www.tuat.ac.jp/~jica-uz/MOU.html
H) The Silkworm
http://silkwormmori.blogspot.com/2007/07/exclusive-interview-with-dr-panomir.html
I) Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology - TUAT
http://www.tuat.ac.jp/~jica-uz/sericulture.html
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