The President of Uzbekistan signed a decree on October 20 on measures to optimize the crop lands and increasing production of food crops.

The water shortages over the past several years have created difficulties for growing cotton and seriously affected the cotton productivity. The farmers have especially felt this in the past two years, and particularly this year, when the average water availability at irrigated lands accounted for only 75 percent of the normal. Shortages of water have negatively affected cotton growing and created additional difficulties in almost all regions of the country.

To overcome these problems, a wide range of measures aimed at ensuring the rational use of irrigation water, including introduction of returning water supply, modern water-saving agricultural practices and tightening water usage control system, was introduced.

In this situation, further optimization of the use of cultivated lands, with consideration of growing water shortages and increasing the production and reliable supply of foodstuffs, acquires a particular importance. The issues of food security have become particularly important in the recent years in the whole world. World prices for grain grew twice on the average compared to 2006, and vegetable prices increased more than twice.

The above-named Presidential Decree envisages reduction of the lands for cotton cultivation and increasing the grain sowing lands by almost 50,000 hectares, as well as significant increase of the production of vegetable, oil and other food crops.