Crop Production in the Cotton Region of the Former Soviet Union

Central Asia includes four of the former Soviet republics: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and accounts for over 90 percent of cotton production in the former Soviet Union; the remainder is produced in Azerbaijan and southern Kazakstan. Annual precipitation in Central Asia ranges from less than 150 millimeters (6 inches) in western Uzbekistan and eastern Turkmenistan to 300-400 millimeters (12-16 inches) in eastern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and western Tajikistan. Precipitation exceeds 400 millimeters in the more mountainous regions, but agriculture tends to be concentrated in the drier valleys, where rainfall is insufficient to support grain and cotton production. As a result, most crops are irrigated. In Uzbekistan, for example, virtually all of the cotton and over 80 percent of grain is irrigated. Melting snowpack from the surrounding mountains--the Tien Shan, Pamir, and Alay ranges--is the main source of irrigation water. The water is intercepted from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers as it travels toward the Aral Sea, and is delivered to the cropland through a network of inefficient canals.

The long-term diversion of irrigation water from the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers has resulted in a environmental disaster. The Aral Sea is shrinking as a result of the loss of replenishing water from the mountains. Its eastern shoreline has retreated nearly 150 kilometers (90 miles) since 1960. The impacts of the sea's reduction, including the death of a once-thriving fishing industry and an increase in cancer, eye diseases, and respiratory ailments apparently largely caused by wind-borne salt pesticide residues from the exposed former seabed, were well-documented by National Geographic magazine in August 1990. The situation has continued to deteriorate.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan embarked on ambitious programs to achieve self-sufficiency in grain production. Wheat was included more frequently in crop rotations, sometimes double-cropped with cotton. In Turkmenistan, wheat production expanded into previously uncultivated areas. Since 1990, grain production has doubled in Uzbekistan and increased four-fold in Turkmenistan, but long-term irrigation has resulted in excessive salinization on much of the region's arable land and some fields already have been abandoned.

The cotton-growing season in Central Asia cotton is roughly 160 days. Planting begins in late March and extends through early May. Peak water use occurs when the plant is blooming, typically from mid-June through mid-August. Three to four weeks prior to harvest, chemical defoliation is used to accelerate desiccation (drying down) of the plants and facilitate harvest operations. Harvest begins in September in continues through October. Ten years ago, over half of the cotton in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan was machine harvested. Due in part to shortages of machinery and spare parts, the percentage of machine-harvested cotton has declined over the past decade. Nearly all of the cotton is now hand-harvested.

For more information, contact Mark Lindeman with the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division on (202) 690-0143.