Policy Reforms in Central Asian Agriculture: A Synthesis and Conclusion

The Central Asian countries covered in this volume include Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. The book brought together several chapters to show how each sector development is important and contributes to the overall development of agriculture and improves food security concerns in the region. Each chapter focused on a particular issue relating to policy reforms for agricultural development either directly or indirectly. However, a central conclusion of this volume is that if the CIS countries are to benefit from policy reforms, they have to be executed in a coherent manner with the government, private sector and external agencies taking equal responsibilities in the process. Liberalization cannot be the panacea for all problems of a centrally planned economy. Neither would it be effective if done in a ‘namesake’ manner. Government control needs to be selectively phased out so that shock to the population is the least. Liberalization of markets without creating supporting market infrastructure like credit financing, banking, and developing of marketing channels would also be untenable. To monitor the proper functioning of these, good governance needs to be in place so that the benefits of the reforms can reach the population at large. The role of monitoring the progress made through policy reforms and evaluating the positive benefits and negative effects of such reforms for developing research-based policies and programs cannot be overestimated.