As of October 12, agricultural enterprises across Uzbekistan have reportedly gathered 3.4 million tons of raw cotton. This progress comes against an ambitious total annual target of 4.5 million tons, indicating that local entities still face substantial hurdles to fulfill contractual obligations before the season concludes. The bulk of the harvested crop was processed using specialized machinery, accounting for 2.6 million tons, while the remaining portion was gathered manually. Statistics indicate that approximately 75 percent of the total volume was successfully cleared by mechanical harvesters, reflecting an ongoing push toward technological reliance in the sector.

Despite the high degree of mechanization, manual labor remains an unavoidable necessity in fields with challenging layouts or restricted access. Out of the total manually gathered cotton, 174 thousand tons were collected along the edges of fields specifically prepared for machinery maneuvering, while another 674 thousand tons came from smaller plots inaccessible to heavy equipment.

Throughout the current season, approximately 3,000 high-performance cotton-picking machines have been deployed across the fields. More than a thousand new units were purportedly leased out to farming enterprises and agro-industrial clusters ahead of the campaign to boost overall productivity.

The utilization of modern machinery is claimed to significantly accelerate the harvesting process and ensure collection within optimal timeframes. For instance, on October 12 alone, mechanical units reportedly gathered 147 thousand tons of cotton, averaging around 50 tons per machine per day.

At present, the harvesting campaign is entering one of its most strenuous and demanding phases. Farmers are expected to collect the remaining yields and meet their mandatory state quotas before the season officially draws to a close.

In a broader economic context, the Uzbek authorities previously established a list of agricultural goods eligible for a zero-value-added-tax (VAT) rate, encompassing 516 items. However, strategic commodities such as cotton and grain were deliberately excluded from this tax relief initiative.

Source: podrobno.uz