New initiatives in agriculture considered

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on November 17 got acquainted with the presentation of proposals to improve the efficiency of cotton growing based on advanced experience and technology, as well as financial support for agriculture.

Agriculture occupies an important place in the economy of our country. The industry’s share in the economy is 20 percent, it produces products worth 467 trillion soums per year and provides employment to 3.5 million people. At the same time, fresh and processed agricultural goods make up a third of all exports.

The presentation examined in detail the issues of increasing productivity in cotton growing.

For this purpose, measures have been developed for targeted work with low-productivity farms, the introduction of advanced agricultural technologies and methods of plant nutrition, as well as a radical reform of the training system for agronomists.

In particular, it is proposed to introduce mentoring in cotton growing, in which experienced farmers with a yield of over 60 centners will be assigned to farmers whose harvest is less than 30 centners.

Advanced farmers will undergo retraining at the Institute for Advanced Training and Retraining of Personnel in the Agricultural Sector and receive certificates. If low-productivity farmers achieve a yield of 50 centners per hectare, the farmers assigned to them as mentors will be paid a monetary reward in the amount of 5 million soums.

In order to improve the system of training agronomists, a mechanism of two-year “dual” education will be introduced for graduates of the Agrarian University and other universities training agronomists. Students undergoing internships in advanced clusters and farms will be paid scholarships, and the specialists who trained them will receive incentive payments.

The presentation separately examined the work on creating local varieties of cotton.

It was noted that there are two unique scientific institutes in our country - the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics and the Institute of Cotton Growing, but their potential is not fully used.

In order to further develop cotton seed production based on variety selection was commissioned to build a phytotron and a reproduction greenhouse at these institutes. As a result, the development time for a new local variety will be reduced by 2.5 times, the work of scientists will be accelerated and the need for imported seeds will disappear.

Plans to scale up the technology of growing cotton under film were discussed.

The President noted the importance of expanding the use of agrodrones and training specialists in this area.

It was touched upon topic of introducing artificial intelligence and digitalization technologies in agriculture. Information is presented on the work carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture in cooperation with foreign companies to train personnel and create scientific infrastructure in this direction.

Issues of financial support were also discussed in detail.

It is proposed to create a system of voluntary crop insurance for cotton, grain, fruit and leguminous crops from 2026 with 50 percent of the insurance premium covered by budget.

In order to simplify the subsidy system, it is proposed to create an Agency for Payments in the Agrarian Sector, which will combine 75 types of subsidies currently provided by various departments into a single platform. This will significantly reduce bureaucratic barriers and red tape for farmers.

The President approved the proposals and gave relevant instructions to responsible persons.