The 2025 cotton harvest is underway across Central Asia, revealing the region’s ongoing struggle to reconcile long-promised reforms with persistent coercion and deepening economic pressure. Once the crown jewel of Soviet central planning, cotton, long dubbed “white gold”, remains a politically sensitive and economically vital crop from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan.

Turkmenistan: Forced Mobilization Persists

In Turkmenistan, mass mobilization for the cotton harvest continues largely unchanged. Chronicles of Turkmenistan reported that during a September cabinet meeting, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov ordered all regions to begin picking on September 10. Just two days earlier, the Ministry of Health had instructed medical institutions to send doctors, nurses, orderlies, and even technical staff to the fields, each assigned a daily quota of 45 kilograms.

In the town of Turkmenabat, hospital workers said doctors were expected to go to the fields immediately after overnight shifts. Those who refuse must hire substitutes at their own expense, paying about 50 manats ($14) per day. As a result, up to two-thirds of monthly salaries are spent covering these unofficial harvest duties. While younger staff are dispatched to the fields, older employees are left to maintain hospital operations with minimal support.

Uzbekistan: Reform, but Lingering Coercion

Uzbekistan, by contrast, has officially ended Soviet-style forced labor. The government abolished child and public-sector mobilization, scrapped state cotton quotas in 2020, and partnered with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to monitor the transition. In March 2022, the Cotton Campaign, a global coalition of rights groups, unions, and apparel brands, lifted its boycott of Uzbek cotton, citing the end of systemic forced labor. The campaign, which began in 2011, had gained the support of more than 330 global brands, including H&M and Zara.

Yet coercion has not entirely disappeared.

In a recent video published by Kun.uz, Dilfuza Tashmatova, deputy hokim (governor) for family and women’s affairs in the Surkhandarya region’s Sariosiyo district, was seen berating mahalla (local governance body) employees for failing to recruit enough pickers. She demanded that each “women’s activist” find five to ten additional laborers, totaling 150 people, and threatened dismissal for non-compliance. “Are you even a woman? Shameless! Unscrupulous! If you don’t want to work, then leave!” she shouted from a cotton field.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, approximately 70% of Uzbekistan’s cotton is still harvested by hand, despite recent gains in mechanization. Labor shortages have plagued the past two harvests as fewer people are willing to take on the physically demanding work for low wages. Mahalla councils are often pressured to mobilize unemployed or low-income residents.

Following public backlash, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Poverty Reduction and Employment fined Tashmatova 20.6 million UZS (about $1,660) under Article 51 of the Administrative Code, which prohibits forced labor.

From Soviet Monoculture to Market Reforms

Uzbekistan’s long history of forced cotton labor dates back to its designation as the Soviet Union’s cotton monoculture. For decades, students, teachers, and medical staff were sent into the fields to meet state quotas. After independence, the system endured until international scrutiny spurred reforms.

The ILO hailed the end of the boycott in 2022 as one of the most significant labor rights victories in recent history. Still, as the 2025 harvest reveals, dismantling deeply embedded systems of coercion remains an ongoing challenge.

Tajikistan: Cotton’s Harsh Economics

While Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan grapple with labor practices, Tajikistan faces a stark economic crisis in its cotton sector. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, farmers are being forced to sell raw cotton at 6-6.5 somoni ($0.66-0.72) per kilogram, well below the estimated production cost of 7-8 somoni ($0.77-0.88). Farmers say they need at least 10 somoni ($1.10) per kilogram to break even.

“If we don’t sell for at least 10 TJS, we will go bankrupt,” a grower in Khamadoni district told The Times of Central Asia, urging government intervention.

Production is in steep decline. Tajikistan harvested 404,700 tons in 2022, but only 253,200 tons in 2024, a nearly 40% drop. Heavy spring rains delayed planting by more than two months, pushing this year’s harvest into late September or even December. Labor shortages are also intensifying, as cotton picking pays just 1.5 somoni ($0.16) per kilogram, far less than wages in construction or labor migration abroad.

Despite these challenges, cotton remains a strategic export. Iran, Turkey, and China are Tajikistan’s main buyers, with Iran alone accounting for 68% of exports. The government has launched a 2040 strategy to revive the industry, promising subsidies, processing plants, and preferential loans. But for now, many of these plans remain unimplemented.

Experts warn that without meaningful reform, including access to export markets and modern agricultural equipment, Tajikistan’s cotton sector could collapse under the weight of outdated systems and unsustainable pricing.