Migration, crop diversification, and adverse incorporation: understanding the repertoire of contention in rural Tajikistan

Hofman, Irna

doi:10.1080/02255189.2020.1788519

Cited by 3 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The area allocated to cotton production (exclusively irrigated) has declined since 1991, from over 35% of all arable land in 1991 (299,000 ha), to 22% (186,000 ha) in 2019 (TajStat, 2020). The cotton sector is officially liberalized, but it is controlled by political and economic elites who have been playing a significant role in shaping reforms of the cotton sector since the 1990s (Boboyorov, 2013;Hofman, 2018Hofman, , 2021cHofman & Visser, 2021). The Tajik state continues to disseminate production plans from the top down.…”

Section: Entering the Frontiermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Luna, 2020, p. 591, who wrote about farmers in Burkina Faso). Notably, in much of lowland Tajikistan, the agricultural input markets and infrastructure required for the production and marketing of food crops has historically (since the Soviet era) received little attention from the state (see also Hofman, 2021c). Some farmers prefer to plant cotton because it is less perishable than other crops, and market outlets are guaranteed.…”

Section: Seed Governance and The Social Context Of Seed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…15 More importantly, there are governance issues that dissuade farmers to exploring alternatives. The formally registered, elite-owned ginneries are the only actors authorized to issue formal documents attesting to the production and the delivery of cotton in Tajikistan (Hofman, 2021c). 16 In this way, the state controls the production and secures the steady supply of cotton to ginneries.…”

Section: Seed Governance and The Social Context Of Seed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is a very recent development that deserves more attention on its own. 16 Instead of producing cotton and/or selling cotton to formal ginneries, farmers sometimes pay bribes or purchase surplus cotton harvest from other farmers to obtain the document (see also Hofman, 2021c). Importantly, the state stringently monitors the transport of cotton during the harvesting season, with state officials stationed at ginneries in some districts.…”

Section: Seed Governance and The Social Context Of Seed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cotton is known in Tajikistan as the state's wealth (boygarii davlat) (Boboyorov, 2013;Hofman, 2018). Cotton is Tajikistan's primary agricultural export commodity, and the cotton economy is controlled by the ruling regime (Boboyorov, 2013;Hofman, 2018Hofman, , 2021c. In recent years, the state has actively attempted to attract foreign investors to revive the cotton sector (Hofman, 2021b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Seeds of empire or seeds of friendship? The politics of the diffusion of Chinese cotton seeds in Tajikistan

Hofman

2024

Journal of Agrarian Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

China's nascent role in the global agrifood regime manifests itself in varied ways across the world, including in the rising spread of Chinese agricultural inputs in foreign markets. This article examines the character and dynamics of a Chinese seed company in Tajikistan, a country in which China's influence has grown substantially since the early 2010s. Focussing on Tajikistan's politicized cotton sector, I analyse the multiscalar and multiactor processes involved in the promotion of Chinese cotton seed and illuminate that Chinese seed breeders strategically tapped into Chinese state funds for their commercial seed business. However, Tajik actors as well as socio‐economic, technical, and political factors have played a crucial role in mediating the Chinese presence and the commodification of seed. I contend that Tajik farmers' seed selection is not significantly influenced by, what could be called, grand politics. Furthermore, I demonstrate that, while the Chinese state plays a central role in the globalization of seed companies, the materialization of state capital has been shaped by private actors, who operate according to capitalist rationality.

show abstract

Section: Entering the Frontiermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seed Governance and The Social Context Of Seed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seed Governance and The Social Context Of Seed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seed Governance and The Social Context Of Seed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Seeds of empire or seeds of friendship? The politics of the diffusion of Chinese cotton seeds in Tajikistan

Hofman

2024

Journal of Agrarian Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Towards a geography of window dressing and benign neglect: The state, donors and elites in Tajikistan’s trajectories of post-Soviet agrarian change

Hofman

Виссер

2021

Land Use Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cash crop or food crop? socioeconomic and geopolitical factors affecting smallholder farmer crop selection in times of crisis in southwestern Tajikistan

Zakirova,

Alff,

Schmidt

2023

Front. Agron.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tajikistan's agricultural sector, primarily dominated by cotton cultivation, has experienced significant changes since the Soviet era. Although farmers introduced food crops into agricultural production to ensure food security after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the government still mandates that cotton cultivation occupy a considerable portion of Tajikistan's limited irrigated land. However, following the recent Covid-19 pandemic crisis, farmers have encountered the need to reassess their agricultural practices, given constrained governmental assistance and a range of socioeconomic considerations. This research adopts resilience as a conceptual framework to examine the coping strategies of smallholder farmers in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan, with a specific emphasis on the period spanning from 2019 to 2022. At the outset, our research employed the snowballing technique to increase respondent participation, later transitioning to a representative sample size that facilitated the collection of qualitative data from around 100 semi-structured interviews, 10 focus groups, and personal visits to agricultural fields over the course of four years. The paper not only demonstrates the overall creativity of Tajikistani farmers in growing and selecting non-cotton crops in this most recent period of crisis, but also points to wealthier farmers’ generally greater willingness to adopt technological innovations and gain new knowledge to apply to them. Although these strategies have been taken in order to address farmers’ immediate needs in troubled times against the backdrop of the existing state cotton policy, their sustainability remains uncertain. While the qualitative focus of this study bears certain inherent limitations, the data collected nevertheless show that this period of crisis has been generative for many farmers as they seek out new methods of subsistence.

show abstract

Migration, crop diversification, and adverse incorporation: understanding the repertoire of contention in rural Tajikistan

Cited by 3 publications

References 31 publications

Seeds of empire or seeds of friendship? The politics of the diffusion of Chinese cotton seeds in Tajikistan

Seeds of empire or seeds of friendship? The politics of the diffusion of Chinese cotton seeds in Tajikistan

Towards a geography of window dressing and benign neglect: The state, donors and elites in Tajikistan’s trajectories of post-Soviet agrarian change

Cash crop or food crop? socioeconomic and geopolitical factors affecting smallholder farmer crop selection in times of crisis in southwestern Tajikistan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About