UZBEKISTAN (5 February)
Uzbekistan has made significant efforts to increase cereal production in order to meet domestic consumption requirements. Area under cereals has steadily increased in recent years at the expense of cotton. Area under winter cereals increased from 1.2 million hectares in 2002 to 1.3 million hectares this year. Provided favourable weather conditions persist and there is sufficient water flow in the Mau and Sir rivers, Uzbekistan is set to produce a record 5.5 million tonnes of cereals this year, compared with an improved harvest of 5.4 million tonnes in 2002. The aggregate forecast cereal harvest this year includes 5 million tonnes of wheat, 140 000 tonnes of barley, 155 000 tonnes of rice and 130 000 tonnes of maize. Cereal import requirement for the current marketing year, estimated at about 412 000 tonnes, is mainly for the high quality wheat and rice.