Sustainable Development Month is being held in our country. One of its goals is ending hunger. We discussed this topic with Muslim Ergashbayev, an expert at the Sustainable Development Center.
— Sustainable Development Month continues in our country. Today we will talk about the second of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — ending hunger. First of all, how would you assess the importance of this goal today?
— Interpreting the second of the Sustainable Development Goals solely as a goal of ending hunger somewhat narrows its meaning. Today this goal encompasses interconnected objectives: providing the population with quality, nutritious food, strengthening the resilience of farms, using land and water resources rationally, and enhancing the resilience of the food system under climate change.
For Uzbekistan, this issue is particularly important. Agriculture is inextricably linked not only to food supply but also to employment, export potential, and regional development. At the same time, agriculture is the main consumer of water resources.
That is why, in the matter of food security in Uzbekistan, three key aspects must be viewed in harmony: efficient use of water resources, increased agricultural productivity, and expanded ability of the population to purchase food products.
— In recent years, food security has become an increasingly pressing issue. Yet a question arises: if markets and stores have enough products, where is the risk?
— In my view, this is precisely where we need to change our traditional understanding of food security. Today, food security cannot be measured by how many products are on market stalls. The availability of a product at the market is merely the final outcome of an entire system. Behind it stands a long chain: water, land, seeds, energy, the farmer, credit, storage, transport, borders, imports, and exports. If a single link in that chain breaks, sooner or later it will be felt at the consumer's table.
That is why I would assess food security by the answers to three questions: is the product available today, will it be available tomorrow, and can the population afford to buy it? The third aspect is also important. A product's presence on the market is not enough: if its price is too high for the population, food security cannot be considered fully ensured.
— What work is being carried out in Uzbekistan to achieve the objectives set under the second of the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
— In recent years, growing attention has been paid in the agricultural sector to expanding market mechanisms, introducing water-saving technologies, modernizing irrigation, and producing high value-added products.
Another important step was the population and agricultural census conducted in 2026. Its results will create a reliable statistical base for agriculture, making it possible in the future to ground agricultural policy, water allocation, and investment decisions in accurate data. In general, the foundation of modern agricultural policy is the efficient use of resources and decision-making based on reliable data.
— Does climate change make this issue even more complicated?
— Certainly. However, the main danger of climate change manifests itself not only in rising air temperatures but also in growing climate instability.
For a farmer, extreme heat or drought during a critical stage of crop development may be more dangerous than the average annual temperature. Likewise, what matters is not so much the annual amount of precipitation as the availability of water precisely during the growing season.
According to World Bank data, under the impact of climate change, water availability in Uzbekistan may decrease by 30–40%, while irrigation demand may grow by up to 25%. These figures should not be taken as an ordinary environmental forecast. They are, above all, an economic signal. If water becomes scarcer, the economic value of one cubic meter of water rises. Every decision in the agricultural sector — which crop to plant, where to plant it, which technology to apply — becomes part of water policy as well.
For a long time, we measured agricultural performance by the indicator "how much yield was obtained per hectare?" Under conditions of growing water scarcity, this alone is no longer sufficient.
Now a second indicator matters as well: how much output and how much economic value is created per cubic meter of water? This is a very important methodological shift. For example, two crops may generate the same income per hectare, but if one of them requires twice as much water, their real efficiency is not the same for a water-scarce region.
In water use, it is important to move from the "withdraw — use — discharge" approach to the "withdraw — use — treat — reuse" principle. In this sense, I am also in favor of broadening the very concept of "water saving." The goal should be not merely to use less water, but to create more value from every unit of it.
— In which areas do you see the most important practical tasks for Uzbekistan?
— In my view, there are several priority areas. First of all, it is necessary to modernize the irrigation system and improve the efficiency of water use.
Second, state support should be tied to concrete results. For example, it is more effective to reward a farmer not for installing drip irrigation equipment, but for reducing water consumption while maintaining productivity.
Third, it is important to bring science closer to the farmer. A new variety or technology must not remain in the laboratory — it must enter practice and become a concrete decision made by the farmer.
The fourth area is fostering a culture of efficient use of household plots by the population and reducing food waste. Careful storage, processing, and rational consumption of harvested produce are also an important part of food security.
— At the international level, what opportunities in food security and sustainable agricultural development do you see as not yet fully utilized?
— In my view, the main problem is not a shortage of new ideas or technologies. The world has notable achievements in drought-resistant varieties, efficient irrigation technologies, satellite monitoring, and artificial intelligence-based forecasting. Of course, it is very important that their number keeps growing. But today's main task is to turn them from scientific developments into practical solutions more quickly.
To do this, it is first necessary to narrow the gap between science and agricultural practice. What matters to a farmer is not a complex scientific indicator, but knowing when to irrigate, where the risk is high, and what measures to take. What the farmer needs is not the information "the NDVI index has dropped," but a specific recommendation: "irrigation is needed in three days," "the risk of disease is high in this field," or "if you do not reduce water use, you risk losing the harvest." Therefore, the next stage of international digitalization should not be data collection, but turning data into decisions.
A water-scarce region does not have to produce every product itself. By importing certain products from regions that use water and energy efficiently, overall resource consumption can be reduced. Here, a balance must be maintained between food security and economic efficiency.
Reducing food losses also offers great opportunities. By developing the food chain, modern storage facilities, processing, and logistics systems, food supply can be increased without drawing on additional land and water resources.
Under climate change, local crop varieties, seeds, and livestock genetics are gaining strategic importance. A genetic resource lost in one country may have been preserved in another. That is why international seed banks, joint breeding programs, and a system for the rapid exchange of climate-resilient varieties may become an important element of future food security.
— We have talked about international cooperation. But from Uzbekistan's perspective, which external direction do you consider the most important in food security and sustainable agricultural development?
— In my view, the most important direction for Uzbekistan here is Central Asia. Geographic proximity alone is not the main factor in this matter. The food systems of the Central Asian countries are closely interlinked through water resources, transport networks, climatic conditions, and agricultural markets. In particular, transboundary water resources and transport corridors, as well as shared climate risks, mean that changes in one country affect the others as well.
That is why Uzbekistan's national agricultural policy cannot be viewed in isolation from regional processes. For example, changes in water flow may directly affect yields, reduced harvests in neighboring countries may affect prices, and disruptions in transport or at borders may affect the delivery of products to market.
From this standpoint, I believe Central Asia should be seen not as the external environment of Uzbekistan's food security, but as its extended agricultural ecosystem.
There is another important point here. The countries of the region possess not identical resources but complementary capacities. Kazakhstan's vast land areas and grain-growing potential, the water and energy capacities of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan's intensive farming, horticulture, processing, and large consumer market, and Turkmenistan's distinctive agro-climatic conditions — all of these can be viewed not only as national assets but also from the perspective of building regional value chains.
This does not mean that each country abandons its own food policy. On the contrary, national resilience is strengthened through regional cooperation.
In my view, it is important to create a unified "Agrarian Register" for Central Asia, bringing together in one system data on land and water resources, production, processing, logistics, exports, and climate risks.
The main goal is not merely to collect statistics, but to identify what opportunities exist in which area and where countries can complement one another. Then, drawing on national data, more precise decisions can be made on regional cooperation and food security.
Today, separate cooperation mechanisms have taken shape in Central Asia in water use, energy, transport, and trade. But from the farmer's point of view, all of this is a single system. The farmer needs water, energy, seeds, and technology, and must bring products to market. That is why, at the next stage, it is important to view the "water — energy — food — transport" nexus as a single economic chain.
In Central Asia, producing goods alone is not enough; delivering them quickly to where they are needed also matters. That is why, for perishable products, "green agrarian corridors" can be developed, combining electronic phytosanitary documents, mutual recognition of laboratory results, expedited customs procedures, and cold-chain logistics.
The region has accumulated extensive experience in dealing with drought, salinization, irrigated farming, mountain agriculture, and breeding. But this knowledge still remains scattered within national borders. A Central Asian agricultural knowledge network could connect scientists, universities, experimental farms, and farmers. A climate-resilient variety or water-saving method developed in one country should be quickly tested in a neighboring one.
In my view, regional cooperation should intensify not only the exchange of goods but also the exchange of knowledge, experience, and technology. Most importantly, agricultural cooperation in Central Asia should be seen not merely as a tool for responding to risks, but as a mechanism for creating new economic opportunities.
Today, the capacities of an individual country on the world market may be limited. But by developing common standards, processing, logistics, and joint value chains, Central Asia has the opportunity to enter external markets as a single, competitive agricultural space. That is why I see the logic of regional agricultural policy for Central Asia in three stages: first, jointly assessing shared risks; second, jointly and efficiently using available resources; third, creating shared economic value. Then Central Asian cooperation will rise from the level of "solving problems together" to the level of "creating opportunities together."
Recorded by N. Usmonova, UzA correspondent.
https://uza.uz/uz/posts/milliy-oziq-ovqat-xavfsizligidan-mintaqaviy-agrar-hamkorlikkacha-imkoniyatlar-va-istiqbollar_894444