Dildora Otajonova, Consultant to the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction on agricultural export issues, noted that cooperatives can make products from dehkan farms and household plots competitive in foreign markets.

“This is particularly relevant for us”, says D. Otajonova. “More than 5.2 million families in Uzbekistan grow agricultural products. Most producers operate on small plots of land and face difficulties with processing, storing, packaging, and exporting their products, which limits their income. When several small farms join together in cooperatives, they can share machinery, infrastructure, logistics, and other resources. This creates more favorable conditions for exporting their products. From my own experience, I can say that selling large consignments of products is considerably easier and more profitable than selling small volumes from individual farms”.

Cooperatives also find it easier to secure loans and subsidies because financial institutions prefer to work with stable associations rather than individual small farms.

Another important advantage is knowledge sharing: cooperative members adopt modern agricultural technologies and efficient farming methods more quickly.

According to expert estimates, developing the cooperative system in the regions could increase the export revenues of dehkan farms by at least 25 percent.

The project provides mentoring support, study visits to Latvia, and start-up grants. It is designed to run for three years, with a total budget of EUR 2,617,545. The Central Finance and Contracting Agency of the Republic of Latvia (CFCA) and the Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre (LLKC) will ensure the project’s technical implementation, including training, cooperative development, mentoring, study visits, and the introduction of European expertise in agricultural consultancy and cooperative management.