Add Value, Save Water
Increasing Efficiency in the Uzbekistan Cotton Sector
Inna Rudenko, Ulrike Grote, John P.A. Lamers, Christopher Martius
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Cotton cultivation in Central Asia is one of the most important causes for one of the most devastating manmade environmental catastrophes ever: the drying up of the Aral Sea. The ecological situation can only be improved if this takes place without economic losses. The Uzbek cotton region Khorezm shows that this is possible. Water and land use can be reduced by more than two thirds without a decline in income. For this to happen, the creation of value by processing cotton on site and the export of high-quality manufactures must be increased.
(Osteuropa 4-5/2008, pp. 407–418)