Uzbekistan's 2023 raw cotton harvest increases 8% to record 3.8 mln tonnes

TASHKENT. Dec 11 (Interfax) - The harvest of raw cotton in Uzbekistan in 2023 increased 8.3% compared to 2022 to a record 3.8 million tonnes.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev included cotton production data in his congratulatory address on Agricultural Workers' Day, as published in the country's official media.

"This year, for the first time, 8.2 million tonnes of grain, 3.8 million tonnes of cotton, more than 15 million tonnes of vegetables and melons, 5 million tonnes of fruits and grapes, 4 million tonnes of potatoes, and 26,000 tonnes of silkworm cocoons were grown in the country," Mirziyoyev said.

The head of state said that, during the reforms carried out in recent years in the country's agriculture sector, primary attention has been paid to the rational use of water and land resources, the active introduction of new technologies into production, and strengthening both the country's material and technical base and the human resources of the agro-industrial complex.

Mirziyoyev also noted efforts to combat desertification, salinity and land degradation, and increase soil fertility. Because of these efforts, water-saving technologies are in use on 500,000 hectares, and the water supply has been improved on nearly 1 million hectares of land, he said.

"This year, an additional 100,000 hectares of land have been put into circulation, food crops have been sown, and orchards and vineyards have been created, which serves to ensure food security and price stability in the country," Mirziyoyev said.

Great importance is attached to reducing production costs by introducing resource-saving technologies, increasing the area using water-saving technologies to 1.5 million hectares, increasing the number of high-yielding crop varieties, and increasing the number of breeding livestock, he said.

Uzbekistan is the sixth largest cotton producer in the world after China, India, the USA, Pakistan and Brazil.

In recent years, the country has stopped exporting raw cotton. A cluster system has been introduced in Uzbekistan, which covers the entire production chain from the cultivation and processing of raw materials to the release of finished goods.