Farmers in Uzbekistan say the government is forcing them to surrender land to Chinese businesses under the guise of state-backed development, taking thousands of hectares of fertile cotton and wheat fields out of the hands of locals.
Despite persistent rumors, only 4% of Chinese investment in Uzbekistan goes into agriculture. Foreign investors cannot purchase land, it can only be leased for a maximum of 25 years through open auctions.
A new report on land grabbing exposes the vulnerability of farmers and citizens to arbitrary abuse of the law when developers and the state lay claim to their farms and homes for commercial gain.
The Korean corporation POSCO International is in talks with the government of Uzbekistan for a US$196 million textile investment, that includes lands for the cultivation of cotton.
QI Hang Mubarak is building a large greenhouse complex on 50 hectares and a 100 hectare sunflower farm in the Mubarek district of the Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan.
The privatisation Uzbekistan’s cotton sector is seeing huge tracts of land being transferred to private operators for cotton cultivation, with farmers coerced into “voluntarily” giving up their land leases, with devastating effects on rural livelihoods.
Uzbekistan's cluster system is essentially a new form of "hidden" or "secret privatization" in which shadowy firms are assuming the state's long-time monopoly control over the most profitable aspects of agriculture.
The Chinese company DELMOR and international financial institutions are investing $100 million in a 10,775 ha cattle complex in Zamin and Zarbdar districts of the Jizzakh region.
Under an MoU signed between Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation and the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government has offered the Indian company around 20,000 ha of land for farming
Representatives of Phoenix Agro Industry and Trade Company CA expressed their intention to invite the world's leading agronomists to Uzbekistan to study the land plots allocated for investment.
The Indian group Phoenix Agro Industry and Trade Company, headquartered in Dubai, plans to grow and process agricultural products in Uzbekistan.
The purpose of the visit was to discuss investment climate of Uzbekistan and possible cooperation in livestock farming and growing cereal crops. The Chinese side also expressed interest in the newly created FEZ “Bukhoro-agro”.
