INTRODUCTION

Uis a country that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, utilizing approximately 4.5 million hectares, about 10% of its total land area of 44.8 million hectares, as agricultural farmland. As of 2022, agriculture accounts for approximately 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs about 26% of the total workforce, making it a strategic industry for national economic development along with abundant mineral resources such as natural gas and copper (ITA, 2023).

Uzbekistan has an extreme continental climate characterized by hot and dry summers and unstable winters with severe daily temperature variations. These climatic characteristics act as fundamental constraints in agricultural production systems, showing that the construction and maintenance of irrigation systems are essential for stable agricultural production. This irrigation-dependent agricultural structure is recognized as a common challenge throughout Central Asia. Uzbekistan, in particular, is classified as a country with very high pressure on irrigation resource utilization (Abdullaev et al., 2019). For example, the severe drought that occurred in 2021 caused serious damage to agriculture as a whole, including reduced grain yields and livestock damage, demonstrating that this country is greatly affected by water resource fluctuations due to climate change on agricultural production stability.

Despite these environmental conditions, Uzbekistan has traditionally cultivated cotton and wheat as major strategic crops, but recently has been diversifying crops to include barley, rice, corn, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables (Pomfret, 2019). These changes are due to complex factors including price volatility of cotton and wheat in international markets, water resource constraints, and the need to strengthen food security. Rice, in particular, is emerging as an important food crop second only to wheat. Although the annual rice consumption per capita is about 10 kg, which is somewhat lower than other regions in Asia, it has great cultural importance as a key ingredient in plov, Uzbekistan’s representative traditional food (Hart et al., 2020). Moreover, it is being reevaluated as a high value-added crop that contributes to increasing farm income due to its higher market price compared to wheat, the staple crop, and cotton, the traditional economic crop, and domestic demand is steadily increasing due to diversification of food culture (Djanibekov et a l., 2019).

Uzbekistan’s rice production system faces difficulties due to the following structural constraints. First, the state-led planned economy system that has continued since the Soviet era hinders rapid and flexible responses to changes in market demand. Second, changes in precipitation patterns due to climate change and water shortage problems threaten the stability of rice production, which has high dependence on irrigated agriculture. Rice cultivation, in particular, is a water-intensive crop that consumes 17-28% of total irrigation water and shows extremely vulnerable characteristics to water resource fluctuations. Third, delays in modernizing production infrastructure, including quality seed production and distribution, mechanization at farming stages, and irrigation infrastructure construction, act as major obstacles to productivity improvement (Jalilov et al., 2023). As a result of these complex factors, rice imports continue to increase, which acts as a negative factor affecting national food security and foreign exchange balance improvement.

In response, the Uzbekistan government is strengthening policy efforts to develop the rice industry as a strategic crop that can contribute to food security, strengthening national nutrition indices, rural job creation, economic development, and ecosystem improvement. In particular, Cabinet Resolution No. 986 adopted in 2019 announced "Additional Measures for Sustainable Development of Rice Production," and comprehensive development strategies including introduction of high-yielding varieties, improvement of seed production systems, mechanization, and expansion of irrigation infrastructure are being promoted. Additionally, efforts are being focused on building a rice industry innovation ecosystem through cooperation projects with international organizations and advanced countries, including the KOPIA project.

Against this backdrop, this paper aims to comprehensively examine the current state and constraints of Uzbekistan’s rice industry, analyze the roles of government policies and international cooperation, and thereby provide empirical evidence and policy insights essential for formulating sustainable development strategies for the rice sector in Uzbekistan.

STATUS OF MAJOR CROP PRODUCTION

Agriculture constitutes one of the principal economic sectors in Uzbekistan, maintaining a diversified agricultural system that produces various commodities including wheat, cotton, fruits, vegetables, other cereals including rice, and livestock products. As of 2023, total agricultural production value reached approximately 3.277 billion USD, representing a 103.9% increase compared to the same period in 2022. Within this total, crop production accounted for 1.642 billion USD (50.1%), while livestock production contributed 1.635 billion USD (49.9%), demonstrating nearly equivalent contributions from both sectors.

In terms of cultivation area by crop, wheat occupies the largest area at approximately 1.22 million hectares, followed by cotton with over 1 million hectares under cultivation. Excluding wheat and cotton—Uzbekistan’s traditional major crops—most other crops are cultivated on areas of approximately 100,000 hectares or less. Among cereal crops, rice holds a strategically important position as the second most significant grain crop after wheat in terms of production scale (Table 1).

RICE PRODUCTION TRENDS AND CULTIVATION METHODS

Uzbekistan’s rice cultivation area and productivity showed distinct volatility during the analysis period of 2021-2024 (Table 2). In 2021, the total cultivation area was 112,564 ha, with single cropping (55,449 ha) and double cropping (57,115 ha) accounting for almost similar proportions. However, the yield per unit area was somewhat higher for single cropping (4.48 tons/ha) than for double cropping (3.94 tons/ha). In 2022, the total cultivation area decreased somewhat to 105,761 ha, but production increased to 515,538 tons, and the average yield also showed a high yield of 5.02 tons per hectare in single cropping cultivation, an improvement of about 12% compared to the previous year. In 2023, rice cultivation area increased to reach a total of 140,318 ha, and production also recorded 661,394 tons. A particularly notable point was that while double cropping cultivation area increased rapidly (106,184 ha), a slight decrease in average yield (4.71 tons/ha) was observed. In 2024, the cultivation area decreased slightly to 139,339 ha, but production increased to 698,808 tons, and single cropping recorded the highest value during the analysis period at 5.35 tons per hectare.

Overall, it can be seen that the total production increase rate (47.6%) was greater than the cultivation area increase rate (23.7%) in 2024 compared to 2021. The gradual increase in yield per unit area can be attributed to advancements in cultivation techniques and the development and dissemination of improved varieties. However, given that rice cultivation in Uzbekistan is highly susceptible to variations in irrigation water allocation timing and distribution volumes, further detailed analysis is required to comprehensively understand the underlying factors contributing to these productivity gains. A particularly notable point is the change by cultivation method, where single cropping cultivation area is gradually decreasing while double cropping proportion is rapidly increasing (Figure 1).

Double cropping proportions increased significantly from 50.7% in 2021 to 71.6% in 2024. This expansion is primarily driven by climate change-induced reductions in winter precipitation, which have decreased water flow in the Syrdarya and Amudarya rivers—Uzbekistan’s main irrigation sources. Under the government’s water allocation policy, irrigation resources are prioritized for wheat and cotton cultivation during the critical farming period (April-May), with water redistribution to rice areas occurring post-wheat harvest (late May to early June). Consequently, double cropping systems face less competition for irrigation water compared to single cropping systems that must compete directly with priority crops during peak demand periods.

Meanwhile, examining the productivity difference between single cropping and double cropping (Figure 2), double cropping tends to consistently show lower yield per hectare compared to single cropping. The yield gap between single and double cropping averages 0.47 t/ha, suggesting room for optimization of the double cropping system. Whether this is due to differences in cultivation environment or differences in varieties and input technologies is unclear, but it is thought that problem identification for increasingly expanding double cropping cultivation along with accumulation of sustainable production technologies will be necessary.

MARKET ECONOMICS AND IMPORT DEPENDENCY

Rice prices in Uzbekistan’s agricultural market were found to be significantly higher than other major crops (Table 3). As of 2024, rice market prices range from 0.77-1.81 USD per kg, which is 2-5 times higher than basic grains such as wheat (0.27-0.35 USD), corn (0.35-0.39 USD), barley (0.20-0.33 USD), and soybeans (0.52-0.76 USD). It even forms higher prices than cotton (0.52-0.83 USD), Uzbekistan’s representative crop. In terms of gross income per hectare, rice shows a range of 3,865-9,086 USD, showing a remarkable gap with other major crops. This is 2-4 times the level compared to wheat (1,933-2,506 USD), corn (1,781-1,985 USD), and cotton (1,705-2,722 USD). Such high market prices can be seen as having strategic value that aligns with the Uzbekistan government’s crop diversification policy and food self-sufficiency improvement goals. Especially when combined with the goals of reducing imported rice dependency and strengthening domestic food security, rice is recognized as a key crop that simultaneously satisfies economics and strategy beyond simple farm income increase (FAO, 2024;Index Mundi, 2024).

However, despite this high economic value, Uzbekistan’s rice imports have shown a an increasing trend since 2019 (Fig. 3). Import volumes, which were about 9,000 tons in 2019, steadily increased to 13.6 thousand tons in 2020, 27.0 thousand tons in 2021, and 34.0 thousand tons in 2022. In 2023, imports surged to approximately 108,800 tons, representing more than a three-fold increase compared to the previous year (WITS, 2023). This substantial rise in rice imports can be attributed to a complex interplay of factors, including Uzbekistan’s annual population growth (1.7%), income level improvements that have altered rice consumption patterns, and the expanding popularity of plov—the national dish—which has further diversified rice consumption behaviors such as Mastava, Shavla, and Moshkiehiri. The exceptionally sharp increase in rice imports in 2023 is presumably related to the government’s strategic decision to significantly expand import volumes in response to market price volatility, growing demand, and stockpiling considerations, particularly given that domestic production failed to increase substantially despite modest gains compared to 2021, primarily due to reduced cultivation areas as shown in Table 1.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s rice import structure has shown considerable changes since 2021. Until 2021, it was a structure concentrated on specific countries with imports from neighboring Kazakhstan accounting for more than 90% of the total, but in 2023, supply sources were somewhat distributed to 60% Kazakhstan and 30% Pakistan (Fig. 3). In particular, imports from third countries such as Thailand, India, and Turkey have also newly begun on a small scale, showing that import source diversification policy is achieving actual results. These changes can be expected to have effects of alleviating supply instability due to dependence on specific countries and strengthening price negotiating power. However, it is also confirmed that the structure of dependence on specific countries has not been completely resolved, as imports from the top two supplier countries, Kazakhstan and Pakistan, still account for about 90% of the total.

REGIONAL CULTIVATION AREAS AND MAJOR CULTIVATION VARIETIES

Uzbekistan’s regional rice cultivation areas and major cultivation methods are shown in Table 4 and Figure 4. First, looking at the distribution of cultivation areas by region, Khorezm province near the southern Aral Sea is the largest production area with 38,560 ha (27.7% of the total), and this region has traditionally been responsible for about 40% of Uzbekistan’s rice production, but production conditions have become difficult since the 2000s due to the effects of water shortage and drought (Hurramov et al., 2025). Following Khorezm province, Sirdarya province (20,100 ha, about 14%), Fergana province (19,755 ha, about 14%), Tashkent province (16,020 ha, about 11%) are major rice cultivation regions, and regions near the Fergana Valley such as Namangan and Andijan provinces also showed proportions of about 9% each. On the other hand, desert areas such as Navoi province and Bukhara province with limited irrigation resources have rice cultivation areas of only about 2%.

Uzbekistan’s rice cultivation methods include both dry direct seeding and wet direct seeding depending on regional practices and water conditions, and overall, wet direct seeding accounts for a relatively large proportion (IRRI, 2023). In the case of Khorezm province, the largest production area, dry d irect seeding is mainly used due t o shortage o f irrigation water sources, while some regions such as Sirdarya, Namangan, and Fergana show characteristics of high proportions of wet direct seeding due to relatively good securing of irrigation canals.

Most rice varieties cultivated in Uzbekistan are self-bred varieties developed by domestic research institutes. Since Uzbekistan began its own rice variety breeding in 1932, starting with the selection of UzROS-7 from the introduced Kenzo variety at that time, about 20 varieties have been bred and distributed up to 2024 (Table 5).

Varieties currently being cultivated or newly bred and prepared for distribution were mostly developed with goals of increasing production and improving stress tolerance.

Among the bred varieties, the most widely distributed varieties are Lazurniy and Iskandar. These two varieties not only have high yield per unit area and good eating quality but also show wide regional adaptability, so cultivation area expanded rapidly from the early distribution stage, and they are still the most preferred varieties by farmers. The success of these varieties is evaluated as representative achievements of Uzbekistan’s rice variety development program.

Special environment-adapted varieties include varieties developed to respond to salt stress. The ‘Nukus-2’ variety (bred in 1986) developed to respond to water and salt stress in the Republic of Karakalpakstan on the Aral Sea coast has been cultivated for a long time, and recently the ‘Billur’ variety with strong salt tolerance was developed in 2023 to respond to salt accumulation and is expected to replace existing varieties such as ‘Gulistan’ in areas with high soil salt concentration. The development of such salt- tolerant varieties has important significance as a practical response to Uzbekistan’s soil salinization problem. Regional specialized varieties also show unique characteristics. Representative examples are the ‘Mustaqillik’ variety (bred in 2004) cultivated as the main variety in southern Surkhandarya province and the ‘Devzira’ variety cultivated in some regions such as Andijon province. In particular, ‘Devzira’ is an old local variety, but it has been maintained to date due to its unique eating quality and processing characteristics traditionally preferred for cooking such as Plov locally. This shows that not only the economic value of varieties but also cultural value is an important factor in variety preservation.

Meanwhile, in some areas of Fergana province, old varieties such as ‘UzROS-7-13’ bred during the Soviet era are still being cultivated. These old varieties persist despite relatively low productivity due to farmers’ long cultivation experience and regional preferences in the relevant areas. This is a transitional phenomenon that appears in the variety renewal process, showing the characteristics of Uzbekistan’s rice cultivation where modern varieties and traditional varieties coexist.

Looking at r ecent variety development t rends, early maturing varieties developed in the 2020s include ‘Manzur’ and ‘Ixlos’ (bred in 2024), both of which are long-grain high-yielding varieties bred domestically. These varieties were developed to enhance cultivation adaptability in northern regions and increase production due to their shortened growth period characteristics. Continuous improvement has also b een made i n the mid-season v ariety f ield, and t he ‘Ziynat’ variety developed in 2024 is evaluated as showing performance comparable to the existing Iskandar variety as a long-grain variety with high yield. Additionally, the ‘Sadaf’ variety developed in 2023 was also registered as a mid-season high-yield variety and is currently being distributed.

Currently, Uzbekistan’s rice variety development has climate change and environmental stress-responsive variety development set as priorities. This is a strategic approach considering environmental constraints such as Uzbekistan’s arid climate conditions and soil salinization problems. With the government and research institutions’ active variety development efforts, the latest varieties are being successively introduced to the field, accelerating the renewal of obsolete varieties and productivity improvement. Currently, Uzbekistan’s rice cultivation field has a mixture of high-yielding modern varieties to traditional varieties, which on one hand shows variety diversity but on the other hand means that replacement and renewal of old varieties is in progress.

RICE PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS AND POLICY RESPONSES

The biggest obstacle to sustainable rice production in Uzbekistan is the reduction in available irrigation water and soil fertility degradation due to climate change (FAO, 2023;Gafurova et al., 2021). In particular, concerns are being raised that yields will decrease significantly due to increasing high temperature phenomena during the farming season and lack of precipitation, leading to continuous reduction in flow o f major rivers s uch as t he A mu D arya, and f urthermore, the irrigated agriculture model itself will be threatened (Rakhmatova et al., 2024). Along with these water shortage problems, soil salinization and desertification problems have also reached serious levels. Currently, about 50% of Uzbekistan’s irrigated farmland suffers from salinization damage, and in some areas, more than 70% a re r eportedly affected. This soil salt accumulation greatly hinders rice productivity, and rice is the most salt-sensitive crop among major grains, so yields can decrease rapidly when subjected to salt stress during the initial seedbed stage and reproductive growth stage (Zeng et al., 2000). Pest and weed damage is also a constraint that cannot be ignored, and rice harvest losses are reported to reach about 10-30% if appropriate control is not implemented (Bagavathiannan et al., 2016;Chaudhary et al., 2022). In this way, water, soil, climate, and biological stress factors work in combination to make Uzbekistan’s rice production environment difficult. Additionally, while a national quality seed distribution system is important for increasing rice yields (CGIAR, 2006), the situation of not being able to receive high-quality seeds stably and quickly is also one of the limiting factors (Sarkar et al., 2024). This inadequacy of the seed supply system acts as a structural problem that prevents farmers from fully enjoying the benefits of the latest varieties.

To supplement these constraints, the Uzbekistan government is pursuing multifaceted response strategies through domestic efforts along with international cooperation. As autonomous response measures, first, economies of scale are being realized through rice cultivation cluster formation and intensive management system construction is being promoted. This is understood as a key strategy that overcomes the limitations of scattered small-scale farms and enables efficient resource utilization. Table 6 shows the cluster formation status in major rice cultivation areas by the Uzbekistan government.

As of 2024, a total of 42 clusters have been formed in 8 provinces covering 41,440 ha, which corresponds to about 30% of the total rice cultivation area. Additionally, about 40% of rice-growing farmers (6,431 people in 2024) are participating, showing that it is spreading on a considerable scale. The Uzbekistan government plans to expand the scale of clusters in the future to support farmers’ collaborative work and solidify them as market-based cooperative systems to develop them as the central axis of agricultural competitiveness improvement. However, the sustainability and expansion of these clusters require addressing several critical challenges, including the development of adequate infrastructure such as irrigation systems to support stable operation of large-scale areas, and ensuring operational transparency in revenue distribution within clusters. These emerging issues necessitate the formulation of comprehensive policy responses to maintain cluster effectiveness. Second, efforts are being made to rapidly distribute water- saving technologies such as laser leveling, mechanical sowing, and transplanting cultivation in response to water shortage and climate change. Laser leveling can have effects of improving uniform distribution and usage efficiency of irrigation water through technically precise soil surface guidance within ±3cm and uniform gradient work on the ground surface. The Uzbekistan government set a goal of applying laser leveling to 50% of the total farmland according to a presidential decree in 2021, and as of 2024, it has been implemented on over 700,000 ha (Khujaev, 2024). Although the specific leveling area in rice paddy fields is not clear, considering reports of 20-35% reduction in irrigation water usage and 5-7% increase in yields (Aryal et al., 2015), it is judged that it can be established as a very useful technology. However, several challenges remain to be addressed, including the mitigation of financial burdens associated with initial investment and equipment maintenance costs, the standardization of region-specific efficient leveling methodologies through manual development, and comprehensive analysis of laser leveling’s impact on rice productivity. Third, to systematically and rapidly distribute newly developed varieties to farmers, public-private partnerships are being emphasized and systems for this are being promoted with speed. Methods of applying microbial fertilizers are also being attempted to alleviate soil salt accumulation and improve water retention capacity (Xu Yang et al., 2024). Shan et al. (2023) reported that microbial fertilizer application has effects of reducing soil salinity and increasing crop yields by more than 10%. Finally, rural digital transformation is also proceeding to accelerate technology diffusion through data-based farming information provision and mobile education (MID, 2024).

Meanwhile, the Uzbekistan government recently recognizes strengthening international cooperation with rice-related advanced countries as an important pillar of rice industry development for improving rice production technology and strengthening research and development capabilities. International cooperation is handled by the Rice Research Institute (RRI) under the National Center of Knowledge and Innovation in Agriculture (NCKIA) within the Ministry of Agriculture, with the KOPIA project with Korea and variety breeding support programs with IRRI being representative (Fig. 5).

Uzbekistan and the Republic of Korea established the KOPIA (Korea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture) center in 2009 and developed various projects in agriculture and livestock sectors. Since 2018, projects have been carried out in earnest for high-quality rice variety development support, quality seed production business, and establishment of machine transplanting cultivation technology. In particular, practical programs were operated including establishing demonstration plots in regions, demonstrating that machine transplanting cultivation (7.2 tons/ha) has higher productivity than wet direct seeding (6.8 tons/ha) in double cropping (Figure 6).

Through producing and distributing quality seeds and consulting on direct seeding cultivation technology suitable for Uzbekistan by production stage, productivity improvement effects are being achieved in all varieties distributed to regions. As can be confirmed in Figure 7, the distributed Iskandar variety had yield increase effects of 0.8 tons/ha in Sirdarya region and 1.3 tons/ha in Andijon region, and the Lazurniy variety recorded yield increases of 0.6 tons/ha, 0.6 tons/ha, and 0.9 tons/ha in Namangan, Tashkent, and Khorezm regions respectively. Based on these positive effects, the KOPIA Uzbekistan Center is currently promoting a project to establish quality seed production complexes over about 2,000 ha by 2028 together with the Uzbekistan government. Nevertheless, the production and distribution of superior seeds through transplanting cultivation requires the development of rice nursery techniques and post-transplanting crop management practices adapted to Uzbekistan’s specific conditions. Most critically, there is an urgent need to train specialists equipped with thorough understanding and technical expertise in transplanting cultivation methods. Hong et al. (2020) reported that the KOPIA Philippines Center supplied high-purity quality seeds from 2015 to 2017 and supported water management, nutrition management, pest management, and post-harvest management according to growth stages, resulting in average rice yields increasing by 25-29% and average net income increasing by 2-3 times, indicating that the quality seed distribution project being promoted in Uzbekistan also has very important significance.

Meanwhile, cooperation with IRRI is being strengthened in various fields including climate-adaptive rice variety breeding technology support, genetic resource exchange, and introduction of F1 hybrid varieties through MOU signing in 2023 (IRRI, 2023). In particular, strategic planning encompasses a five-year implementation program commencing in 2025 to expand hybrid variety cultivation to 43,000 hectares. Concurrently, joint research initiatives are being executed to develop novel rice cultivars characterized by improved water use efficiency and higher productivity through the application of DNA marker-assisted breeding methodologies. Additionally, Uzbekistan participated as a member of the Central Asia Rice Research Partnership (CORRA) in the same year, actively contributing to international networks for information sharing and joint problem solving among Central Asian rice-cultivating countries. In addition to cooperation with international organizations such as FAO and technology exchange with agricultural advanced countries such as Japan and Vietnam, bilateral ODA cooperation with Korea is also being actively carried out.

Comprehensively, Uzbekistan is pursuing multilayered and comprehensive policies including cluster formation, water- saving technology introduction, variety development, and strengthened international cooperation to respond to various constraints of rice production. It is expected that these efforts will be systematically linked and implemented to contribute to sustainable development and productivity improvement of Uzbekistan’s rice industry.

CONCLUSION

In Uzbekistan, rice is emerging as an important economic crop along with cotton and wheat due to increasing demand and food security importance. Since it is evaluated as the most superior crop in terms of profitability compared to other crops, the Uzbekistan government has established and is promoting a comprehensive plan to promote sustainable growth of the rice industry through a comprehensive plan linked to the 2020-2030 agricultural development strategy (CMRU, 2019). The core of this plan is to reduce import dependency and increase domestic food self-sufficiency through rice productivity improvement, and for this purpose, multifaceted approaches including cluster formation, water-saving technology introduction, new variety development, and strengthened international cooperation are being taken.

As of 2024, whether to expand cultivation compared to current rice cultivation area has variability depending on the Uzbekistan government’s policy, but if government strategic intervention, domestic and international research cooperation, and market mechanism strengthening work organically, productivity per unit area is expected to gradually improve. Although risks such as water resource constraints, government system changes, and international grain market volatility exist, the implementation speed of urgent tasks such as capacity building of government research institute personnel, establishment and institutionalization of seed distribution systems, and development and distribution of field-customized technologies will be key success factors. If these efforts bear fruit, the possibility of improving rice self-sufficiency and establishing an export base through gradual and realistic policy promotion is expected to increase further.

In particular, in the field of international cooperation, rice production technology in Uzbekistan is being advanced through the KOPIA project, and quality seed production and distribution systems are being established. At the same time, international networks are being strengthened through cooperation with IRRI and others in hybrid variety introduction and variety breeding support programs. As a result of these comprehensive efforts, Uzbekistan’s rice industry is evaluated as having sufficient potential to develop into a central industry for national economic development beyond food security strengthening and rural economic development.

적 요

본 연구는 우즈베키스탄의 벼 재배 현황, 제약요인, 정책적 대 응 및 국제협력에 관한 정보를 수집 분석하여 우즈베키스탄을 포 함한 중앙아시아의 쌀 생산 관련 연구자 및 정책 결정자들에게 정보를 제공 하고자 수행 하였다.