“Uzbek cotton farmers facing ‘forced dependency’”, 22 August 2025

Cotton farmers in Uzbekistan are becoming subordinates, forced to serve the interests of powerful companies that dominate cotton production, a local human rights group has warned.

The Uzbek Forum for Human Rights (UFHR) says that despite promises of reform, farmers operating in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector, which has been long associated with state control and forced labour, are owed “huge” amounts of money by the private cotton clusters that dominate cotton production.

These cotton clusters have reportedly accumulated significant debts to farmers dating back to the 2023–2024 harvests.

The unpaid debts, acknowledged by the chairman of the country’s tax committee, Sherzod Kudbiyev, have left farmers struggling to pay taxes, cover salaries, or repay their own loans, the forum says, adding that instead of addressing these structural injustices, authorities continue to tighten control over farmers who try to escape cluster dependency.

…The UFHR cites the recent case of the Hosildor Oltintola cooperative in Surkhandarya, which it says shows the extent to which farmers’ attempts at independence are crushed by bureaucratic barriers and administrative coercion.

“Twelve farmers united to cultivate 360 hectares of cotton at their own expense,” the UFHR explains.

…UFHR explains that the government then imposed a tight technical registration deadline for inclusion on the state-run Agroplatform which, it alleges, was impossible to meet in the short time provided.

…“While Uzbekistan’s leaders promote agricultural modernisation, the lived reality for farmers is continued authoritarian control. They are treated not as independent entrepreneurs but as subordinates forced to serve the interests of clusters – entities often closely linked to local officials and their rent-seeking networks.”