Uzbekistan hides data on the 2025 grain harvest

Economist Otabek Bakirov has called on the Uzbek authorities to release official data on the 2025 grain harvest. He said that despite the fact that there are only two weeks left until the end of summer, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Statistics Committee (Goskomstat) have still not provided any information on the volume of the harvested crop. Bakirov stressed that such data is critically important for planning for the next year, and its absence is causing concern among experts and farmers. He wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

Compared to previous years, when information on the harvest was published on time, there is an unusual delay in 2025. For example, on June 30, 2024, the Farmers’ Council reported a harvest of 9 million tons, while in 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture released data on 8.1 million tons of grain on July 15. This year, according to Bakirov, neither the ministry nor the Farmers’ Council are in a hurry to disclose statistics that could indicate problems with the harvest.

Experts attribute the possible decline in yields to adverse weather conditions. At the beginning of 2025, they warned that due to insufficient rainfall and warm weather, yields could drop to 2 t/ha. In May, heat and drought led to the fact that the ears of corn did not have time to fully ripen, dried up and crumbled. According to preliminary estimates, the total grain harvest in Uzbekistan this year may not exceed 5 million tons, which is significantly lower than in previous years.

Tags: harvesting, Uzbekistan, crop forecast