Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Experts from the Institute of Macroeconomic and Regional Research (IMRI) assessed the efficiency of using land resources in agriculture.

In 2018-2022, the sown area in the republic as a whole decreased from 3,396.0 thousand hectares to 3,353.3 thousand hectares, or by 1.3%.

The area of perennial plantings during this period increased from 432.5 thousand hectares to 488.6 thousand hectares, or by 13.0%.

One of the goals set during this period was a gradual reduction in the area under wheat and cotton. Over 2018-2022, the share of wheat and cotton in the total sown area decreased from 73.5% to 69.5%, or by 3.9 percentage points.

At the same time, the reforms being implemented in the cotton and grain sectors have made it possible to achieve a significant increase in productivity for these crops.

The average cotton yield in the republic in 2018-2022 increased from 21.0 c/ha to 34.1 c/ha or by 62.4%, wheat - from 41.0 c/ha to 47.2 c/ha or by 15.1%.

During the period 2018-2022, in the whole of the republic, an increase in average income per 1 hectare of cultivated area was achieved from 42.0 million soums/ha to 46.5 million soums/ha.

The largest increase in average income per 1 hectare during this period was achieved in Fergana (+24.5%), Namangan (+20.2%), Kashkadarya (+17.8%), Syrdarya (+17.3%) and Surkhandarya ( +15.8%) regions.

To achieve the goal in the Strategy “Uzbekistan – 2030” to increase the average income per hectare to $5 thousand, it is necessary to increase the average hectare income by 18.9% from its level in 2022, which amounted to $4,205.