Uzbekistan Develops Fruit-and-Vegetable Cluster

To produce more fruits and vegetables, Uzbekistan is going to implement a cluster system. The Uzbek government has been tasked to do that under President Shavkat Mirzieev’s order.

According to Mirzieev, cooperation within the agricultural industry is very poor. At the moment Uzbekistan produces 21 million tons of fruits and vegetables. However, only 1.5 million are used for export. Agricultural logistics centers that grade, process, package and export fruits and vegetables use only 10-15% of their power. The main reason is lack of funding and poor supply, so these centers can operate only during the season.

Authorities hope to fix the industry work using clusters that will be created from a pattern of foreign agricultural clusters. Also, Uzbek farmers will be trained on how to use new technologies to raise output yields.

As an example, Mirzieev cited cotton farming clusters that work successfully. In 2019 almost 73% of all Uzbek cotton was produced exactly in such cotton textile clusters with the growth of the yields between 20 and30%.

However, Uzbekistan does not want to increase cotton exports. In early October 2019 Sardor Umurzakov, head of the Uzbek Ministry of Investment and External Trade, stated that from 2020, the country will focus on textile production and export instead of the export of raw cotton.