Uzbekistan Sets Higher 2027 Cotton Target After Record Harvest

OPA WIRE, Nov 6 (OPA) — Uzbekistan harvested over five million tonnes of raw cotton in 2026, marking a roughly 25% increase from the previous year and exceeding the government's initial target of 4.5 million tonnes. Agriculture Minister Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov reported that the 2025 harvest stood at approximately four million tonnes. The record output stems from new cotton varieties, revised planting methods, and expanded use of harvesting machines, with more than 3,000 machines picking roughly 85% of the crop within 30 to 35 days. Officials noted that machines harvested the entire crop in Jizzakh and Syrdarya.

Increased yields coincide with the expansion of domestic textile processing, enabling Uzbekistan to transform raw cotton into yarn, fabrics, and clothing at home. Abdurakhmonov emphasized the strategic shift toward domestic manufacturing, noting that the country previously exported only cotton fibre. The World Bank estimates that Uzbekistan has possessed adequate capacity to process its entire raw cotton crop into yarn since 2023, while the domestic textile industry employed approximately 600,000 people in 2024, compared to 188,000 in 2018. Farmers are expected to generate a combined net profit of 13 to 14 trillion Uzbek soums, roughly equivalent to €1bn, from the 2026 harvest.

The country has also implemented major labour reforms to eradicate forced and child labour. Following systematic monitoring, the International Labour Organization confirmed in March 2022 that systemic forced labour had been eliminated during the 2021 harvest, prompting the Cotton Campaign to lift its global boycott of Uzbek cotton. Concurrently, agricultural authorities are addressing severe water scarcity challenges in the region. Agriculture accounts for about 90% of national water consumption, but farmers are increasingly substituting traditional flooding methods with drip irrigation, which officials estimate reduces water use by approximately 40%.

Building on the 2026 output, President Mirziyoyev has set a national average cotton yield target of 6.5 to seven tonnes per hectare for 2027, up from the current 5.6 tonnes. Planned measures to achieve this goal include deploying higher-yielding varieties, agricultural drones, artificial intelligence, and advanced irrigation systems. The government also aims to optimize production in areas with salty soils and further reduce fertilizer use as part of ongoing agricultural modernization efforts.