Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Agriculture and Natural resources

In Uzbekistan, employment in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries declined from 36.2% in 1999 to 27.4% in 2016, mainly on account of men’s preference for higher-paid manufacturing jobs or labor out-migration. On the other hand, women’s share of jobs in small and micro businesses (including farms) slowly increased from 21.7% in 2014 to 22.5% in 2016. Women contribute to
the family budget by tending small gardens and larger plots of land. they grow fruits, vegetables, or seedlings; care for livestock and poultry; produce dairy products for family consumption;
sell products in the community; bake bread; and sew for the family and sometimes take sewing orders from neighbors.

Women in rural households usually manage small funds received from the sale of milk and dairy products, eggs, and other agricultural products. Some women gradually turn to farming; only 5% operate farm enterprises themselves, with marked regional differences (14% in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and 0.75% in the Syrdarya region).

Key issues for female-managed farms and MSMes include lack of startup capital and inability to collateralize their property and assets because men retain ownership in most cases. Other challenges include lack of time management skills, short-term bank loans, restrictions on

mobility due to poor-quality feeder roads, limited coverage of public transport, and high costs of fuel and transport to get to the markets. In water-deficient regions, digging boreholes requires considerable financial investment from both male and female farmers.

there is considerable institutional gender asymmetry in the Ministry of agriculture, where women constitute only 14.5% of the employees, and mostly fill maintenance and technical positions.

among other development objectives, adB’s assistance in agriculture is focused on mitigating environmental, social, and gender impact. State interventions related to farm size that specifically targeted horticulture were supported by adB under the auspices of the recently begun Horticulture Value Chain development project (HVCdp) to assist in crop diversification and enhance private sector horticulture value chains.

the strategy aims to mainstream gender in agriculture by

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  developing and endorsing a long-term gender policy for the sector;
  
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  analyzing—during the project design phase—household incomes and expenditures, sources of employment, labor usage in farm and agribusiness operations, and farmers’ access to markets;
  
• 
  introducing a 30% quota for female farmers in the total loan portfolio of pCBs; and
  
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  in collaboration with the WCU, enhancing outreach interventions among female farmers in financial and non financial bank services for female clientele.