Central
Asian Nations:
Different
Paths to Development
Since
the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the former Soviet republics have
chosen different
strategies to meet their new national objectives, including their
priorities for wheat production.
CIMMYT, which works with all of the Central Asian republics, realized that detailed information was needed on the wheat economy to chart an appropriate course for collaborative research. In late 2001, CIMMYT economist Erika Meng spent two months in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, collecting information on current and future wheat productivity, wheat competitiveness, and potential regional research links.
“In each country, I tried to obtain information on policy directions and priorities for agriculture and then to get a better understanding of the role of wheat in the agricultural sector,” Meng explains. “We needed information on the priorities for wheat research, the level of interaction between scientists and farmers, and the inputs and information available to farmers. We also lacked a lot of basic statistical data. In addition, I tried to collect information on marketing and transportation infrastructure, the overall institutional environment, and irrigation facilities.”
Some of her findings are briefly outlined here.
Kazakhstan
Relatively low government involvement and financial support exist for the agricultural sector in Kazakhstan, the largest Central Asian wheat producer. Kazakhstan’s economy declined sharply after independence, and its economic woes were later compounded by drought and recession in Russia, an important export market.
“The use of agricultural inputs has risen somewhat in the last two years but remains low in wheat production. And the basic infrastructure for technical information and markets lags behind,” explains Meng. High debt levels and recent land tenure changes that limit the size of landholdings and the duration of land rights contracts could also influence farmers’ behavior. “Another interesting development is the consolidation of market power by a group of large, vertically integrated grain companies,” says Meng.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan is still recovering from civil war in the mid-1990s. Only 6% of the land in this mountainous country is arable, and resource constraints are felt quickly. Agriculture is the largest economic sector.
The civil war took a great toll: its effects are evident in the economy and infrastructure. “While political stability seems to be improving, recent drought in parts of the country has undermined people‘s ability to recover,” says Meng.
Wheat, the most important food crop for households, is grown largely to satisfy subsistence needs. Given the pressing need for suitable varieties and seed, the main focus of national research institutions, international organizations, and NGOs has been to identify varieties and to multiply and distribute seed.
Despite the importance given to wheat production in national priorities, at the local level it often loses in the competition for land and other resources (particularly water) to cotton, the country’s main crop before independence and one of its few export commodities.
Uzbekistan
Food security, interpreted largely as food self-sufficiency, is one of the most important government policies in Uzbekistan, where consumption needs are approximately 3 million tons of grain for food and 1.5 million tons for feed. The Uzbek government is heavily involved in all aspects of wheat production, from recommending varieties to producing and ensuring supplies of seed and fertilizer.
“In Uzbekistan irrigated land was largely allocated to cotton before independence, and wheat was grown almost exclusively on rainfed land,” comments Meng. Given the priority placed on food security since independence, a concerted effort was made to increase irrigated wheat area. Wheat area is now mostly irrigated and has held steady at approximately 1.4 million hectares. Yields are about 2.6 tons per hectare.
Kyrgyzstan
In the last five years, wheat area in Kyrgyzstan increased from slightly over 193,000 hectares to 480,000 hectares, with yields of around 2.4 tons per hectare. Kyrgyzstan differs from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in that national wheat research was better established before independence. Kyrgyzstan is also the only Central Asian country that is a member of the World Trade Organization and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
“It was the only country I visited where plant breeders’ rights, patents for crop varieties, and royalties featured prominently in discussions with scientists,” Meng says. “There is great interest in the development and commercialization of an international seed industry, but they still have a ways to go.”
Evolving
Roles for
Research Economists
Meng also found that the roles of economists in some Central Asian research institutes are still evolving. “Past economics research was not particularly independent and was largely carried out to be in line with government policies. The tr end is shifting towards more objective research, but political pressure is still quite strong in some places. There is also some reluctance to make data available to outsiders and not much of a tradition of collaboration and sharing research results,” Meng says.
These aspects of economics research are likely to change as a program of regional collaboration develops. “It will be a long-term process,” says Meng, “since changes can be accomplished only through more interaction and communication within and outside the region, and through an increased familiarity with new economic and political principles.”
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For
more information:
Erika Meng (e.meng@cgiar.org)
August, 2004