With a series of legal reforms beginning in 1991 and continuing until today, the Government of Uzbekistan (GoU) has consolidated total control over agriculture production in Uzbekistan through a process of replacing government owned and managed “collective farms” with so- called “private farms” leased to farmers. In doing so, the current Government of Uzbekistan has built a centrally-controlled political and economic patronage system to control and benefit from the production of cotton. The paper reveals the production of cotton in Uzbekistan, demonstrates the involvement of stakeholders, volumes of the harvest, as well as political, social and economic aspects of the cotton agriindustry.
