37favour of cultivating fruit and vegetables, which are more profitable to their grow-
ers. Under plans outlined by the Agriculture and Water Management Ministry,
the area reserved for cotton is being reduced by 400 square kilometres this year,
and will fall by another 1,000 square kilometres in 2018. That is a hefty, although
perhaps not yet significant enough, chunk of the 13,000 square kilometres now
dedicated to cotton.
The fork in the road in terms of water-management policies to be adopted by
Central Asia’s governments, as assessed by the World Bank, is stark. In an optimal
scenario, the region’s annual gross domestic product will grow by 11.5 per cent by
- On the doomsday end of the scale, the region’s economy will shrink by 10.7
per cent. Central Asian nations have far too long allowed water to become their
bone of contention. Time is the real enemy.
Peter Leonard is the Central Asia editor of EurasiaNet.org.Central Asia and water, Peter Leonard Opinion & Analysis