Tajikistan: Dushanbe Sticking with Cotton, Despite another Horrid Harvest

The cotton harvest in Tajikistan has fallen short of targets by nearly 40 percent. Despite the steep decline of the cotton sector in recent years, authorities in Dushanbe appear determined to stick with the troubled cash crop, even though the country is experiencing food shortages.

Tajikistan in 2007 produced 419,597 tons of raw cotton, which was 76.3 percent of the national cotton target. But this year, the harvest produced only 249,022 tons of raw cotton - just 63.2 percent of the target, the Asia-Plus news agency reported on December 13. The cash crop accounts for 60 percent of the country's agricultural output and supports 75 percent of the rural population. Cotton export earnings for the January-October period in 2008 were $8.1 million down over the same period the previous year. Falling cotton prices at the Liverpool Exchange are set to negatively impact the state budget, Muhammadi Ormonov, the head of the Grains and Industrial Crops Department within the Ministry of Agriculture, told the news agency.

However, Ormonov dismissed the idea that Tajikistan would reduce its dependence on the crop and instead grow grain to ease the burden of food imports. "It is more profitable to grow cotton and use money made from cotton sales for purchasing wheat in a large amounts," he maintained.

Safar Mahmadiyev, another Agriculture Ministry official, said recently the country would plant roughly 1 percent less cotton next year to increase land for food and grains. Tajikistan, a net grain importer, has suffered as the price of food has risen dramatically over the past two years. According to the CIS Interstate Committee for Statistics, consumer prices rose over 30 percent in the first 10 months of this year. Oxfam now estimates that one-third of the country's rural population is in danger of going hungry in the coming months.

In theory, statistics would suggest that Tajikistan should move away from cotton cultivation. The reality on the ground, however, complicates the decision-making process. Those who pick the crop can be some of cotton's most ardent defenders.

During a visit to southern Khatlon Province in late November, several women interviewed praised cotton for being durable, and not prone to spoilage. They also reported that selling the crop was never a problem.

For farmers in southern Tajikistan cotton is the only thing that most know. The region is thoroughly dependent on the cotton crop, a result of Soviet plans hatched several generations ago. The traditional picking season is August to November, and because the cotton pods open slowly over time, a field cannot be harvested all at once. Instead, it must be combed through methodically several times.

Harvesting in Khatlon Province stretches into late November. By mid-December, workers begin to clear the fields and prepare for another round of planting after the Persian New Year holiday in mid-March.

The hardened stems of cotton plants are an important source of fuel throughout the winter. Lightweight and fast burning, they do not yield any residue or smell and are thus ideally suited for baking bread.

One observer in Dushanbe, who picked cotton as a child, said international media outlets, eager to criticize, often overlooked the ancillary value that the cotton provided Tajiks. Cotton is embedded in the lifestyle and the economy of the country, she said. In addition to providing fuel for fires, women turn the seeds into cottonseed oil for cooking. They even get to take some of their harvest home to make blankets and bedding.

In November, moreover, the price per kilo tends to go up. In a hurry to collect the remaining cotton before the fields are cleared, the production companies double their rate from 20 to 40 dirhams per kilo (approximately 6 to 12 US cents).

With a half-full bag tied around her waist, Norimisa was gathering cotton with a group of about 20 other women in late November. She reported that during a typical eight-hour shift, she could pick 100 kilograms of cotton, adding that the work "is not hard for us; we have worked this way since we were children."

Men were conspicuous in their absence in the fields. Normisa said women usually served as pickers while men performed other tasks, such as watering the fields or working in the nearby cotton bundling facility. One of Norimisa's colleague, meanwhile, said that most men in the area had gone to Russia in search of work.

Ohim, 70, was picking cotton, but added that she was also intent on finding enough fuel to heat her home. Resting a 20-kilogram sack of dried cow manure on her head, she expressed fear about the onset of winter: "I'm worried, we have nothing." Asked where the men are, she responded, "Most of them are in Russia, but some of them are in the big cities of Tajikistan. When they are gone, we work alone." At least 30 percent of economically active men have left Tajikistan as migrant laborers in search of a better living, according to the International Organization on Migration.

The lack of men has lead cotton growers to seek an alternative source of labor. International attention has focused recently on the forced conscription of child labor to help harvest cotton in September and October. And though some children were working in the fields, it did not appear they were missing classes at this point in the season. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Three boys -- aged 5, 11, and 12 -- who were in the fields helping their mothers, said their classes only run from 8-10 in the morning. Two 13- and 14 year-old girls said they attend their middle school from 8-1 daily and help their mothers pick cotton in the afternoon.

At the end of the day, a tractor came to haul away the cotton. It was the only time of the day when a machine was seen in the field. The tractor, driven by a man, took the cotton to a lot to dry in the sun for a day before being carted to the nearby Umed One factory in the regional capital, Qurghonteppa.

Sherafjan Hazanov, head of the Cotton Acceptance Department there, said that during peak production the factory processed 20,000 kilograms of cotton per day over two eight-hour shifts. The cotton is cleaned and packed into 200-kilogram bails for international markets.