Increasing the Profile of Crop Diversity in Agricultural Production and Policies in Uzbekistan

Rapid environmental and socio-economic changes caused by climate change, population growth, migration, and other factors create important challenges to agricultural production in Central Asia. More intense droughts and soil salinization are among the key environmental problems that smallholder farmers in Uzbekistan face. The necessity to ensure that farmers have access to varieties that can cope with these problems becomes particularly relevant. To address these challenges, the Uzbek Research Institute of Horticulture, Viticulture, and Wine-making, the Tashkent Agrarian University, and the Uzbek Research Institute of Plant Industry joined forces with Bioversity International under the project "Improving seed systems for smallholder farmers’ food security” funded by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency. The project team studied existing systems of seed and planting material production and commercialization in Uzbekistan to identify agronomic, socio-economic, and policy factors that limit farmers’ access to quality seed and planting material of selected target crops originating in Central Asia: apple, apricot, pomegranate, grape carrot, and onion. The project paid special attention to the channels through which farmers obtain information, as well as foundation seed and grafting material of new and traditional varieties. The study showed weak connections between research institutes and farmers, as well as between farmers and seed quality control organizations.