World Bank Document

 
The World Bank 
Agriculture Modernization Project (P158372) 
Page 10 of 70 
attach a low value to Uzbekistan’s products. These are traditional markets in Russia, Kazakhstan, and other 
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries that accept standards set by Uzbekistan’s phytosanitary and food 
safety systems. Even in these countries, though, most Uzbek products are sold on open markets (bazaars), and not in 
supermarkets that represent opportunities for faster increase in demand and higher retail prices
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. The share of CIS 
countries of Uzbekistan’s export market was 79 percent in 2017 and 75 percent in 2018. For selected products, the price 
differential for Uzbekistan’s products between its current traditional markets and larger markets, where Uzbekistan’s 
presence is marginal however, is significant. 
9. 
The WB has been assisting horticulture farmers and agribusinesses to support improved production through 
better access to finance. The WB-financed Horticulture Development Project (HDP), which was approved in 2014 and 
received additional financing in 2018, assists improving access to long-term finance for tailored investments in 
horticulture value chains and building strong leading agro-firms and nuclear farms critical for future agriculture 
development. As of October 2019, the project financed 819 sub-projects of modern greenhouses, cold storage, 
packaging, and processing, and intensive orchards, helping create about 16,000 jobs, with women comprising 31 percent 
of full-time employees within agro-firms and horticulture farms.
10. 
Reforms and modernization have also started in cotton and wheat, the subsectors under the heaviest state 
oversight. During 2015-2019, more than 240,000 hectares (ha) and 100,000 ha of arable land were shifted from cotton 
and wheat production,
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respectively, to accelerate agricultural diversification. In 2019, the state procurement prices for 
wheat and cotton largely reached those at the market level, although during 2016-2018 their artificially low level was 
estimated by the WB to have cost farmers 2.2 percent of GDP annually. Systematic child labor in cotton picking was 
eliminated
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and the use of forced labor dropped to 6.8 percent in 2018
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. The GoU has indicated a strong readiness to 
completely eliminate the use of forced labor and state production targets in the upcoming years.