Resource information
Turkmenistan's unique approach to
land reform and farm restructuring has produced a
significant shift to individual or household-based farming,
with more than three-quarters of the arable land leased to
individual households or small groups. Most leaseholders
consider this land to be rightfully theirs, and they expect
to keep it in the future, either as private owners, or
through extension of their leasehold. However, individual
production is administratively circumscribed by a pervasive
system of state orders and central planning. The lease
contracts rigidly specify the crop that each leaseholder is
required to produce (typically cotton or wheat) and set a
specific quantity target for delivery to the state at prices
much below the level of prices on international markets.
Managers and leaseholders universally express the view that
the prices they receive from the state for wheat and cotton
are too low, and identify the chance to sell freely at open
market proces as a key factor that would improve the
economic situation on farms. Both managers and leaseholders
expressed enthusiasm for the reform at the time of the
survey. This is a natural psychological reaction to the
dramatic transition to a new system, and to avoid
disillusionment, the initial change must be followed by
further meaningful reforms, including abolition of state
orders, transfer of land to individual control, and
elimination of constraints on individual choice.
