Uzbek land handed over to the Chinese

China is the main foreign investor in Uzbekistan, with large capital inflows for new projects, but the growing Chinese presence is causing great concern among farmers. Data from the Uzbekistan National Institute of Statistics last year counted 17,900 farms with foreign participation, of which almost 7,000 with Chinese capital

Tashkent (AsiaNews) - Tension is growing in the Andižan region of Uzbekistan, where local farmers say they are being forced to “voluntarily” leave their land at the disposal of the authorities, and many believe that in reality it is being handed over to Chinese investors.

Part of the land had already been leased to the Chinese last year, as the region's farmers recall, although the Uzbek authorities insist that the transfer of land ‘must be absolutely voluntary and completely legal’ and that the plots will not be sold to foreign investors, whether from China or any other country.

The inhabitants of the eastern regions of Uzbekistan, who grow cotton, vegetables and fruit, tell Azattyk Asia correspondents of threats and night-time visits from officials from various administrations and services, and of numerous pressures to hand over their land, thus depriving themselves of their means of subsistence.

Under Uzbek law, there is no private ownership of agricultural land, and farmers lease it from the state for periods of 49 years. The government does not have the right to terminate the contract, except in cases of serious delays in rent payments or voluntary renunciation of land use.

Numerous publications and commentaries, including interviews with farmers and administrators and analyses of legal documents, show that in the Fergana valleys of Uzbekistan, near the borders with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, where cotton is mainly grown, it is common practice to intimidate and drive out farmers in order to make way for Chinese investors' projects.

As Zoiržon Gapparov, head of one of the main agricultural companies in the area, told Radio Ozodlik, “the police came to my house, forced me and my wife into their car and took us to the local administration offices, saying that the president had ordered that our land be given to the Chinese”.

Gapparov refused to comply, and following the incident, militia and prosecutor's office officials were constantly patrolling his cotton fields, intimidating even ordinary workers and trying to force them to sign statements about the company's irregularities.

When he decided to file a complaint with the relevant authorities, he was told that his land had already been allocated to another owner, that he was ‘no longer a farmer and my land had been given to the Chinese’, even though he had documents proving the regularity of his contract.

Some websites published news about this transfer of land to the Chinese last year, and it was interrupted for a few months, but now it seems to have resumed at full speed. China is the main foreign investor in Uzbekistan, with large capital inflows for new projects, but the increasingly widespread presence of the Chinese is causing great concern among Uzbek farmers and citizens.

As explained by Dilmurod Khodžamberdiev, head of the agricultural department who informed Gapparov of the transfer of his land to the Chinese, “by decision of the Tashkent government, a new department has been created to oversee land management”, which has overcome “bureaucratic obstacles” allowing the Chinese to develop their projects.

This structure, which has the power to lease land to foreigners, is now active not only in the Andižan region, but also in Džizak, Namangan, Tashkent, Fergana, Syrdary and Kaškadarja. In these regions, there are management teams of five people who control all arable land and can decide who to allocate it to without even going through the regional and municipal authorities, albeit “according to the law”, which can be interpreted as they see fit.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics of Uzbekistan, last year there were 17,900 farms with foreign participation, of which almost 7,000 were Chinese-owned, a rapidly growing number.