Tropentag, September 18 - 20, 2019 in Kassel "Filling gaps and removing traps for sustainable resources development"

Farm Data for Sustainable Agricultural Development in Uzbekistan (TOPAS project)

Samarkand Agricultural Institute (Institute of Veterinary Medicine), Agricultural Economics and Accounting, Uzbekistan

Abstract

Official statistics on farm data, namely, agricultural input and output data is available from State committee of statistics of Uzbekistan and its regional departments and district branches. Commercial farms apply compulsory reports to local branches of committee, but data on family farms are rarely available. Commercial farms report on crop area, yield and value of major cash crops as cotton and wheat. Lack of farm data on production inputs and outputs limits research capacity on efficiency increase, optimisation of resource use and marketing of commodities. This paper examines the possibility of implementation of internship schemes of agricultural higher education in Uzbekistan to collect and use on farm data of agri-economic and statistic agri-structural data for educational and research purposes.
There is a strong hypothesis that improvement in higher education and research could help closing the gap between potential and actual production. There is worldwide evidence that agricultural research yields high returns as it helps to increase yields. Within this context, agricultural HEIs do not have information about the results of economic activity of enterprises. Statistics reflects only the aggregated data of sector development using the index of certain types of products produced on certain territory (district, region, country). Internships may be used to obtain real data of farm enterprises that are not available in the official statistical information.
By developing tools and paths for improvement of practical skills of graduates and fostering better links with agribusiness the project will enhance employability and thus contribute to the improvement of the livelihood of the local population through intensification of private farming based on ecologically, economically and socially sustainable land and water resources.
The project TOPAS will create of a databank for applied sciences on the field of agriculture management for common use of students, teachers and researchers. This databank will consist of data on production inputs, costs and outputs of major cash crops of Uzbekistan.

Keywords: Agriculture, farm data, higher education, TOPAS, Uzbekistan

Contact Address: Farhod Ahrorov, Samarkand Agricultural Institute (Institute of Veterinary Medicine), Agricultural Economics and Accounting, Mirzo Ulugbek 77, 104103 Samarkand, Uzbekistan, e-mail: fahrorovyahoo.com