In the territories of the Akhal, Lebap, and Mary velayats of Turkmenistan, there is a significant loss of cotton harvest. The reason for this is the lack of workers for harvesting. Hundreds of hectares owned by local officials have remained untreated with defoliants, making it impossible to use harvesters. Modern landowners are unwilling to adequately pay hired pickers, hoping for assistance from budget workers from local authorities. Meanwhile, on the unharvested fields, livestock can be seen grazing, as reported by turkmen.news.
On December 1, at a government meeting in Turkmenistan dedicated to agriculture, the khyakims of all five velayats and Vice Prime Minister Tangryguly Atakhallyev, responsible for this area, reported to President Serdar Berdymukhammedov on the progress of the cotton harvest. The President instructed to gather the harvest "down to the last grain."
However, according to observers from turkmen.news, there are significant losses in the Akhal, Lebap, and Mary velayats. As of the beginning of December, many fields still show hundreds of hectares of unharvested cotton, which is shedding and becoming unsuitable for collection. Months of efforts by dozens of people and resources such as seeds, fertilizers, and fuel have been wasted. Why is this happening?
According to reports, small farmers have completely harvested their crops on their 3-5 hectare plots. However, large areas owned by wealthy tenants—officials and law enforcement representatives—have remained unharvested. These landowners do not want to work their fields and refuse to pay pickers 1 manat per kilogram of cotton. They hope that workers will be found who are willing to harvest for 0.50 manat per kilogram or even less.
However, there are practically no such pickers left in rural areas. Locals are selling their property or taking loans to go abroad for work.
Modern landowners, possessing large plots, cannot harvest even with the help of harvesters, as they require perfectly prepared fields, free from weeds and pre-treated with defoliants. Unfortunately, such fields do not exist, and launching the harvesters becomes pointless—they will only collect a mix of dirty raw material and green leaves.
Nevertheless, local officials are not too worried about the unharvested cotton. They prefer to plant more profitable crops, such as rice and vegetables, which sell quickly for cash. The unharvested cotton crop is not seen as a loss for them—they simply let livestock onto these fields, profiting from the growth and milk production. For example, some of them, like Khusnidin Bazarov from Isbaz, have thousands of heads of cattle and small livestock.
Only in the Lebap velayat, observers from turkmen.news recorded a loss of cotton over an area of about 350 hectares. Similar areas of unharvested crops have also been noted in the Mary and eastern regions of the Akhal velayat.
Previously, turkmen.news reported that even with new cotton harvesters, they are insufficient and often end up in the fields of officials. In such cases, ordinary farmers are left without assistance and are forced to rely on their own efforts.
According to sources, this year the cotton showed a good yield. It was expected that by the end of November the planned volumes would be harvested, but cotton still remains in the fields. The khyakims and Vice Prime Minister Tangryguly Atakhallyev, previously known as "Billion," continue to assure the president that the situation is under control.
