Continuity and change: Land and water use reforms in rural Uzbekistan. Socio-economic and legal analyses for the region Khorezm
Creators: name: Wehrheim, Peter
name: Schoeller-Schletter, Anja
name: Martius, Christopher
name: Djanibekov, Nodir
name: Bobojonov, Ihtiyor
name: Rudenko, Inna
name: Lamers, John P.A.
name: Muller, Marc
name: Schieder, Tina
name: Cai, Ximing
name: Hirsch, Darya
name: Wall, Caleb
name: Wehrheim, Peter
name: Schoeller-Schletter, Anja
name: Martius, Christopher
name: Djanibekov, Nodir
name: Bobojonov, Ihtiyor
name: Rudenko, Inna
name: Lamers, John P.A.
name: Muller, Marc
name: Schieder, Tina
name: Cai, Ximing
name: Hirsch, Darya
name: Wall, Caleb
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2008
Subjects: Agribusiness
Community/Rural/Urban Development
Crop Production/Industries
Industrial Organization
Institutional and Behavioral Economics
International Relations/Trade
Land Economics/Use

description: Decades of Soviet rule have left a heritage of environmental and social problems in Central Asia. The demise of an entire ecosystem at unprecedented pace, the "Aral Sea Syndrome", is the most prominent of the undesired outcomes of the focus on agricultural production that has dominated land and resource use and continues till today. The international outcry over this ecological crisis has delegated other – and maybe more urgent – problems to a second pane. Rural livelihoods are rapidly deteriorating, unemployment is high, and rural poverty widespread. Ecological aspects, although strongly affecting everyday life in rural areas – such as water and soil salinity and environmental pollution – are not the fore most concern to the local population, as the economic survival is the more pressing need. Nevertheless, it is exactly in this situation where the larger part of the population exploits the natural resources further rather than preserving the ecological basis as a natural means of the local land’s productivity. Since their independence in 1991, the five countries of Central Asia have dealt with these challenges in different ways. Uzbekistan has opted for slow, gradual reforms, keeping a strong government control over agricultural production. Its agricultural sector is still characterized by a dominance of state ordered crops, mainly cotton and winter wheat which are sold to state agencies. State control and the lack of land ownership, true privatization (land is leased, not owned) and skills are widely seen as the major causes for the rural poverty and rampant environmental degradation. According to common opinion, the slow pace of reforms and the strong government control have aggravated environmental degradation and social problems. Careful analysis shows that the real picture is more complex and less straightforward than a quick look at the system would suggest, however. It is here that the Center's for Development Research (ZEF) project on "Economic and Ecological Restructuring of Land- and Water Use in the Region Khorezm (Uzbekistan)" sees its role. In this rural economy the use of natural resources, economic performance and the related social dimensions are closely linked. The innovative approach of the project is to tackle the issues at stake with a strongly interdisciplinary approach. Economists, social scientists and natural scientists are working together to analyse the on-going changes in land and water use, allowing a deeper insight into the causal change between land use, poverty and environmental degradation. The results of some of the individual research projects – some of them surprising – are the subject of this book and will provide the basis for recommendations and solutions for decision-makers that address the ecological deterioration as well as its economic and social consequences. The project aims at providing a comprehensive, science-based plan for restructuring, at three nested intervention levels: Markets, policies and institutions, and technologies. Modelling will assist in developing scenarios of different levels of resource use and provide decision makers with information as to the future consequences of the decisions taken today. These concepts are being developed in a long-term scientific research program with the ultimate goal of improving rural livelihoods through judicious and sustainable land and water resource management. There is a specific regional focus on the Khorezm district of Uzbekistan, and the main partner is the State University of Urgench (capital of the Uzbek region Khorezm). The co-operation is based on strong links built with local partners and international agencies for technical cooperation. Most prominent in this context are the collaborative agreements with UNESCO and with the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources Management of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The cooperation with both partners is essential, not least because they will further ensure a strong embedding in national policy making and capacity building efforts. Khorezm is a district of the Republic of Uzbekistan, located in the irrigated lowlands of the Amu Darya River, which is the major tributary to the Aral Sea. It is in many ways an example of all of the irrigated lands along the rivers that cut through the Middle Asian deserts – mostly flatland, former desert areas that are irrigated for hundreds – if not sometimes even thousands of years – which have been subjected to huge changes in the last 40-50 years by means of immense irrigation projects that represent a very strong path dependency for today’s efforts to manage the resources in the region. From the outset the main donor of the project, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) of Germany, understood that such a project can be developed only with a long-term perspective. The project was laid out for 10 to 12 years, structured into four phases of which the first two have been completed so far. Phase I saw the establishment of central databases and infrastructure, and Phase II field surveys and trials for understanding institutions and processes, that allowed the development of simulation and optimization models. Phase III will be dedicated to testing an integrated concept for restructuring land use in a typical area of the region, on-farm, which will lead in Phase IV to the development of policy recommendations and a contribution to informed decision making by Uzbek policy makers, by the water administration, and by farmers. The present volume represents preliminary results of the research undertaken mainly in the social and economic realm during project phase I and part of phase II. It combines the contributions from a workshop held at Bonn University in April 2005. Its intention is manifold: First it provides basic information related to ongoing changes in land and water use and thereby enhances the knowledge base for judging the effects of further change. Second, it describes those research tools which have been adapted by colleagues to become suitable for this region in transition and for the given historical background. One other goal was to enhance the analytical capacity on the basis of which solutions and/or recommendations are to be developed. As the articles are the result of phase I and, to some extent, of phase II of the project, they are "work in progress". This book should be seen in the context of two forthcoming volumes: One on the diverse aspects of tree intercropping systems in the Central Asian regions, and another that will provide an integrative view of the research undertaken in the first years of this project. We would like to thank all partners, and particularly our colleagues from Uzbekistan, for having made this book possible. Without the close cooperation in this international, multicultural research team, the achievement would not have been possible. Most prominently we would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alimboy Sadullaev, Dr. Ruzumboy Eshchanov and Prof. Dr. Bahtiyor Ruzmetov from the State University of Urgench who have always supported this project unfalteringly and with great enthusiasm and continue to do so. Furthermore, we would like to thank those who have helped in editing the text. In that respect the special attention given to this volume by our colleague Jennifer Franz is greatly appreciated. Thanks also go to Guzal Matniyazova, Elena Kan, and Vefa Moustafaev for their support and the provision and correction of Russian abstracts. We finally would like to acknowledge the never failing efforts by Sandra Staudenrausch, Eva Niepagenkemper and Kirsten Kienzler with editing, formatting and endless bug-chasing. Without them, the edition of this book would have been delayed much more! And of course our most sincere thanks go to Paul. L.G. Vlek, Director at ZEF, who initiated this project. Without his guidance and support, his unwavering efforts for raising the necessary funds and his readiness to always openly discuss the topics and problems of agriculture in Central Asia, this book would never have been possible. Last but not least, we also are greatly indebted to the BMBF for its continuous efforts to provide the project funds, and we would like to thank especially Dr. Jürgen Heidborn and Dr. Susanne Kieffer at BMBF, as well as Dr. Ingo Fitting from Project Management Jülich for their never failing support.