Agrarian Reforms in Turkmenistan

Conclusion

Turkmenistan has implemented significant reforms in agriculture, increasing the size of the household plot sector, enabling the emergence of independent private farms, and most importantly individualizing to a certain extent the production arrangements in former collective farms through the introduction of leasehold contracts. Yet the policies underlying these reforms are not entirely consistent: state orders are retained for the main cash commodities (cotton and wheat), the producers are generally bound to monopolistic state marketers and input suppliers, and the independent private farmers who are relatively free from these constraints receive land of very poor quality that requires major investment in reclamation. It is not surprising that the performance of the new leasehold sector is far short of its potential and the new independent farmers are struggling to survive. However, despite these political constraints, the reforms are finally beginning to have some positive impact, with agriculture slowly starting to recover from the initial transition-induced decline.