How Uzbekistan solves the problems of ensuring food security

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In the context of climate deterioration, a complex geopolitical situation in the world and the subsequent sanctions policy of individual states towards others, as well as a growing imbalance in the global energy market, the development of the agricultural sector and ensuring food security is becoming relevant for many states, including the Republic of Uzbekistan.

I. Development of agriculture. Agriculture is one of the key sectors of our country's economy. By types of economic activity, the share of those employed in agriculture is 24.2% (about 3.5 million people). The sale of agricultural products to foreign markets brings Uzbekistan up to 20-25% of its total export revenue. The favorable natural and climatic conditions that Uzbekistan has, as well as a well-thought-out state strategy in this area, contribute to the dynamic development of the agricultural sector.

This industry plays an important role in the country's economic complex and makes a significant contribution to economic growth and food security of our country. The share of the agricultural sector in the country's GDP reaches 25%. At the same time, the priority areas of Uzbekistan's food policy are saturation of the domestic market with food products, achieving self-sufficiency in their production.

It should be noted that over the years of independence, Uzbekistan's agricultural policy has undergone serious changes. State-owned agricultural enterprises were abolished, farms were created that introduced advanced technologies in the absence of administrative-command management methods, crop areas were optimized, and production of food crops was increased. This allowed the agricultural sector to be diversified and all its spheres to be developed.

1. Production dynamics. Uzbekistan has long been famous for its high culture of farming and agriculture. Since the first years of independence, the country has been taking the necessary measures to increase agricultural production. In 2017–2023, as a result of intensive development of the industry and the introduction of market mechanisms into it, stable growth in the production of all types of agricultural products was achieved.

Thus, over the past 6 years, the volume of agricultural production has increased by 16% (average annual growth - 2.6%) and reached 426.3 trillion soums by the end of 2023. At the same time, 61.7% of the products were produced by farmers and household plots, 31.4% by farms and 6.9% by agricultural enterprises.

In the field of crop production in 2023, 8.4 million tons of grain crops were grown (an increase of 16% compared to 2017), 11.6 million tons of vegetables (13%), 3.6 million tons of potatoes (27.9%), 3.1 million tons of fruits and berries (19.4%), 1.7 million tons of grapes (6.9%), 0.3 million tons of rice crops (19%). In the field of livestock farming in 2023, 2.83 million tons of meat were produced (an increase of 20% compared to 2017), 11.9 million tons of milk (about 16%), 8.4 billion eggs (28.5%).

Optimization of crop areas and reduction of areas of industrial crops (cotton) by 200 thousand hectares in favor of increasing the production of food crops also made it possible to provide 2.2 million seasonal and permanent jobs and ensure the production of an additional 5 million tons of food products.

2. Processing of agricultural products and development of infrastructure. In the context of modernization of the national economy, deep processing of fruit and vegetable products is one of the main areas of agriculture. Over the past 10 years, the volume of processing of fruit and vegetable products has increased by 3.5 times, including the volume of production of canned fruit and vegetable products has increased by 2.5 times, dried fruits - by 4 times, natural juices - by 7 times.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2023 Uzbekistan will produce more than 22 million tons of fruit and vegetable products. If in 2016 processing accounted for only 8% of the total production, then by now it is 15% (3.3 million tons). According to the "Strategy for the Development of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020-2030", by 2030 it is planned to increase deep processing to 25%.

The meat processing capacity amounted to 458 thousand tons (an increase of 140% compared to 2016), milk - 3.1 million tons (146%), flour production - 6 million tons (120%), vegetable oil production - 1.8 million tons (121%). The number of food industry enterprises increased from 9.4 thousand in 2016 to 22.5 thousand in 2023 (2.4 times), the number of people employed increased from 85 thousand to 110.5 thousand (130%), the production volume increased from 23.2 trillion soums to 86 trillion soums (3.7 times).

The sphere of production and processing of agricultural products is closely interconnected with the development of its infrastructure. It should be recognized that due to the insufficient level of refrigerated warehouses, agro-logistics centers, transportation, the loss of products during collection, storage and transportation reaches at least 30%.

However, this area has also been developing over the past few years. If in 2019 there were 31 agro-logistics centers and 1.5 thousand cold storage warehouses in the country, by now their number has reached 78 agro-logistics centers and about 2 thousand cold storage warehouses with a storage capacity of up to 1.25 million tons per year. By 2030, it is planned to increase the number of agro-logistics centers to 100, and storage volumes to over 2.5 million tons.

The most active cooperation in this area is with French and Chinese companies. Thus, in 2020, an agreement was reached with the French company Rungis Semmaris on the creation of 8 large agro-logistics centers in the regions of the country with a total area of ​​over 80 hectares. Currently, work is underway to build 3 logistics centers, the total cost of which is $ 197 million, and the total capacity is 1.7 million tons.

One of the largest state investment corporations in China, CITIC GROUP, plans to invest $50 million in the creation of a large agro-logistics park in the Syrdarya region on an area of ​​32 hectares with warehouses with a capacity of 50 thousand tons, a turnover of 300 thousand tons of agricultural products, including sorting, processing, storage and packaging.

3. An important aspect of the development of the agricultural sector is attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Since 2016, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the amount of $8.5 billion has been invested in this sector. According to the Central Bank, the volume of FDI in the economy of Uzbekistan in 2023 reached $7.2 billion, which is twice as much as in 2022. At the same time, 7% of these investments were in this sector. In September of this year, the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted the Strategy "Uzbekistan-2030". According to this document, by 2030 it is planned to attract $15 billion in FDI to the industry in order to increase its productivity and profitability.

4. The introduction of innovative technologies in the agricultural sector contributes to an increase in its productivity. Resource-saving technologies and agrotechnical measures based on modern science and innovation are applied locally.

In particular, during 2019-2023, 100 scientific projects worth 124.3 billion soums were financed within the framework of state scientific programs, 62 new varieties and 61 developments were created, 87 patents were received, 8 projects were commercialized, 15 varieties of wheat, 2 varieties of rice, 4 varieties of potatoes, 17 varieties of vegetables and 12 varieties of fruit trees were included in the state register. As a result, in 2017-2023, wheat production increased by 35%, vegetables by 125%, melons by 120%, fruits by 115% and grapes by 114%.

In the innovative development of the industry, along with science, the introduction of digital technologies is also important. Currently, 14 information systems have been implemented in the field of veterinary medicine, 4 in the direction of quarantine and 4 in the activities of agricultural inspection. More than 100 complex processes have been fully digitalized, such as land allocation, crop planning, financing of growing products, equipment registration, issuance of export and import certificates, and the allocation of 45 types of subsidies.

II. State policy in the field of food security. The state food strategy of our country is mainly aimed at ensuring its security through domestic production.

In October 2019, the Presidential Decree approved the “Strategy for the Development of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020-2030”, which covered 9 strategic priorities, the first of which was ensuring food security for the population.

Currently, domestic production fully meets the needs of the republic's population for such socially significant products as meat and dairy products, vegetables, fruits and melons. According to experts from the Eurasian Development Bank, the level of self-sufficiency in basic types of agricultural products in Uzbekistan in 2021 is: vegetables and melons - 129%, fruits and berries - 122%, eggs - 100%, milk and dairy products - 99%, all types of meat - 96%, potatoes - 88%, grain - 73%, vegetable oil - 44%, sugar - 0%.

Considering that in 2023 the production volumes of meat, meat products and eggs in the republic will increase significantly, at present the domestic market is insufficiently supplied only with potatoes, sugar, vegetable oil and grain.

In this context, Uzbekistan seeks to cover the insufficient volume of these products through supplies from foreign countries. Thus, food imports in 2023 amounted to $3.49 billion (about 11% of the total import volume), of which a third was grain - 4.04 million tons for $1.12 billion (from Kazakhstan), vegetable oil - 435 thousand tons for $355 million (from the Russian Federation - 66.1%, Kazakhstan - 25.3%, Ukraine - 2.55%), sugar - 129 thousand tons for $558 million (from Brazil, Russia), potatoes - 516 thousand tons for $49.6 million (from Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia).

Special attention is paid to the active development of the food industry in order to meet the growing demand for quality food products. According to available estimates, food production in Uzbekistan has grown dynamically over the past 6 years, increasing by 31% over this period. The volume of investment in fixed assets of the industry has also increased significantly. If in 2017 investments amounted to about $231 million, then in 2022 this figure reached more than $550 million.

The food industry makes a significant contribution to the country's economic development. Over 6 years, employment in it has increased by 122%, the number of enterprises has grown by 224%.

In general, one of the evidences of the success of the food policy pursued in Uzbekistan is the improvement of Uzbekistan's position in the ranking of countries in the world in terms of food security. Thus, according to the Global Food Security Index, at the end of 2022, Kazakhstan took 32nd place (2021 - 41), Uzbekistan - 73 (2021 - 78), Tajikistan 75 (2021 - 83) out of 113 countries in the world.

Moreover, Uzbekistan entered the top 10 countries with the greatest progress in ensuring food security in 2019-2022. This allowed Uzbekistan to move to the group with a moderate level of food security. Previously, our country was in the group with a weak level of food security.

The measures taken have enabled Uzbekistan to achieve significant progress in achieving the National Sustainable Development Goals and Targets for the period up to 2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goals), in particular Goal 2. “Strengthen food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agricultural development.” Today, Uzbekistan’s situation with reducing the prevalence of malnutrition is one of the best in Central Asia.

According to the FAO review, in 2020-2022, the prevalence of undernourishment in the region decreased to 3.0%, while the global average was 9.2%. In particular, in Uzbekistan, this indicator was below 2.5% in the period 2020-2022.

Thus, sustainable development and modernization of agriculture is a key priority of the country's macroeconomic strategy aimed at economic growth and raising the level of well-being of the population. Moreover, the demand for this policy at the present stage is due to the growing relevance of the problem of ensuring food security in recent years. In these conditions, an effective agricultural and food policy implemented by the leadership of our republic contributes to the solution of many socio-economic problems.

Utkirbek Siddikov

Chief Researcher of the Institute for Strategic and

Regional Studies

under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan