Bumper wheat crop

Uzbekistan is likely to harvest an unprecedented 5.3 million mt of cereals in 2002, which is some 1.4 million mt higher than last year's harvest, a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) official said on Wednesday. "Improved precipitation, water availability and relatively improved access to inputs are the main factors contributing to this year's bumper crop," Aziz Arya, an economist at Commodities and Trade Division of FAO, told IRIN from Rome. Uzbekistan, like its other Central Asian neighbours, had been in the grip of a drought for three years, forcing the government to rely on substantial imports of basic foods. Arya said this year's harvest would include about 4.9 million mt of wheat, as against 3.4 million mt last year. He added domestic consumption was estimated at about 5.1 million mt, which will be entirely met by domestic production together with accumulated stocks. However, cereal imports for the 2002/03 marketing year are estimated at 362,000 mt - mainly 280,000 mt of high-quality wheat, 60,000 mt of rice and 20,000 mt of maize. Nizam Yuldashbaev, an official of the US agriculture department, told IRIN from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, that rain was the major factor behind good crops this year. "Experts attribute the bumper crop to very favourable weather conditions," he noted. Arya said this was due to improved precipitation and water availability in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. "These are the two rivers providing most of the irrigation water in the country. In addition, there was better access to seeds and fertilisers this year compared to the past few years." Yuldashbaev said the harvest had brought the Uzbek government close to its target of achieving self-sufficiency in food, though some quantities of high-quality wheat would still be imported. He said exact figures of production of various cereals, including wheat, would be available in a month or two. According to the US Department of Agriculture website, satellite imagery indicates significant year-to-year improvement in central Uzbekistan, where 70 percent of the country's wheat is grown.