About 2 million people are involved in the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan this season, Podrobno.uz reported referring to the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan.
Since the beginning of autumn, cotton harvesting has gradually begun throughout Uzbekistan. For the 2022 season, 21,379 squads were formed in the regions of Uzbekistan, which cover 1,959,702 pickers. That is, on average, one detachment consists of 90-100 people.
Among them, 605,136 people are workers in cotton-textile clusters and farms, 1,269,676 are local residents and seasonal workers, and 64,972 are recruited from other regions.
In addition, 11.4 thousand units of vehicles for transporting pickers, 17.7 thousand transport tractors, 30.7 thousand trailers are attached to the harvesting teams.
“There is an average of 1.5 tons of cotton harvested per picker per season. The total number of pickers is calculated from this. Picker team leaders are paid monthly wages until the end of the cotton harvest season. Pickers are paid for cotton every five days, even if it falls on weekend,” the Ministry of Agriculture noted.
They also stressed that by October 10, the first cotton harvest will be completed and the second one will begin.
Uzbekistan is one of the major cotton exporters. Before Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in 2016, schoolchildren, students, and employees of the state bodies of the country were involved in the cotton harvest. After harsh criticism from international organizations and conditions put forward to stop using child labor, Uzbekistan stopped attracting urban residents to the cotton harvest.
Annually Uzbekistan collects about 2.5 million tons of cotton worth about 250 million dollars. The country is one of the ten largest exporters of cotton.
Uzbekistan is home to over 39 million people and is the largest economy in Central Asia.
inozPRESS.kg,
Sept. 19, 2022