Measures have been identified for the further development of market relations in agriculture

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On December 12, under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a discussion was held on measures to further improve the raw cotton harvesting system.

At a video conference chaired by the head of state, held on November 9 this year, the existing problems in the cotton industry were analyzed, the need for organizing relationships between clusters and farmers, cotton seed production based on new approaches was pointed out.

The proposals developed in accordance with these instructions were considered at the meeting today.

In particular, starting from the harvest of 2024, relations between producers of cotton raw materials and cotton-textile clusters will be established in a new order.

Before planting seeds, farmers and clusters within the same region will conclude futures contracts based on soil fertility indicators for cotton harvesting in the "section of cotton raw materials" of the Commodity Exchange at auctions held separately for each region.

At the same time, the farmer places the amount of cotton he has grown on the stock exchange and concludes futures with the cluster within his region that will offer a higher price. The starting price is determined based on the average price of cotton fiber on the New York Stock Exchange over the past 12 months.

Farmers will be able to sell the volume of cotton harvested in excess of the fulfillment of the futures contract, as well as primary and secondary products obtained from raw materials, directly to the cluster with whom the futures contract is concluded, or to any other entity on the exchange.

In the case of farmers growing cotton raw materials at their own expense, including commercial loans, cotton raw materials and primary and secondary products derived from them can be freely sold on the stock exchange;

The meeting noted the importance of organizing training seminars for farms growing raw cotton on the procedure for participation in stock trading. It is determined that clusters and other enterprises will accept cotton raw materials only through electronic scales and will implement an automated accounting system for cotton fiber.

Starting from the 2024 harvest, a new system of allocating loans to farmers and clusters from the Agricultural Support Fund for the cultivation of raw cotton and final calculations will be introduced.

When implementing agrotechnical measures at the expense of allocated loans, suppliers of goods, works and services, including material resources, are selected by farms and clusters independently.

Loan applications will be submitted entirely electronically.

The meeting stressed the need to update the organization of cotton and textile clusters.

So, those wishing to create a cluster will have to establish at least two stages of textile production, and also should not have overdue debts on taxes and mandatory deductions, as well as bank loans.

The Republican Commission for Coordinating the Activities of cotton and Textile Clusters will be disbanded, and applicants wishing to organize cluster activities will be selected on the basis of an open and transparent online competition.

The Ministry of Agriculture will maintain a register of clusters and publish it regularly on its website. The Ministry has been tasked with creating a program for automated cluster rating based on a system of key performance indicators.

The meeting also discussed the development of seed production and increasing the yield of cotton.

The presidential decree developed for this purpose provides, as an experiment, to allow the sowing of foreign cotton varieties on 10 percent of cotton areas starting next year.

Also, as an experiment, high-yielding local and foreign varieties will be placed on sites in 14 districts with low soil fertility and difficult water supply.

The importance of introducing special agrotechnical and simplified quarantine requirements for imported cotton varieties, the cultivation of these varieties under special quarantine control and on the basis of scientific instructions from the Cotton Growing Council was noted.

Cotton clusters and farms will be given the freedom to place cotton varieties, but in accordance with the guaranteed seed reserve.

A number of tasks are being defined to stimulate the creation of new productive and industrial varieties of cotton in the republic.

In particular, clusters and farmers will be allowed to act as co-authors of the appropriate variety in the breeding of local promising cotton varieties, the creation of elite quality seed production and commercialization of the variety. It is planned to gradually transfer the field of harvesting certified seeds to clusters and private seed enterprises.

Starting in 2024, varieties with yields of less than 30 quintals will be regularly identified and replaced with high-yielding domestic and foreign varieties.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been tasked with developing a mechanism for implementing this system and transforming the activities of the Seed Production Center.

Since there is no special institution in Uzbekistan in the field of fibrous crops, fiber production and the cotton industry, it is proposed to create a Research Institute of Fibrous Crops on the basis of the scientific research body of the Cotton Growing Council - JSC Pakhtasanoat ilmiy Markazi.

Scientific expertise on the safety of genetically modified organisms and their processed products will also be introduced in our country, as well as a national database of genetically modified varieties will be formed. Thanks to this, an assessment of the safety of manufactured and imported GMO products will be launched, as well as an analysis of information about GMO products.

In order to digitalize the industry, the e-urug platform will be launched by the end of 2024. This will create opportunities for mutual integration of seed enterprises and farms, obtaining information about seed supply and reserve, their suitability for regions, agrotechnology, free and transparent placement, redistribution and certification of seeds for varieties and hybrids.

The President approved these proposals and gave a number of instructions on the implementation of the new system.