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Mastering of virgin lands in Uzbekistan (as an example of
Surkhan-Sherabad deserts, 1950
–
1980)
Oybek KOMILOV
Andijan State University
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received January 2024
Received in revised form
15 January 2024
Accepted 25 February 2024
Available online
15 March 2024
In the article, under the influence of the agrarian policy of
the Soviet government in Uzbekistan in the 1950s-1980s, the
issues of the mastering of virgin lands in Surkhan-Sherabad, the
establishment of regions and cotton fields on new lands were
thoroughly analyzed using the information from archival
documents and periodical press publications.
2181-
1415/©
2024 in Science LLC.
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-1415-vol5-iss2/S-pp125-129
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
agrarian policy,
virgin lands,
mastering,
cotton field,
district,
Surkhan-Sherabad.
O‘zbekistonda qo‘riq yerlarning o‘zlashtirilishi
(Surxon-
Sherobod cho‘li misolida, 1950–
1980-yillar)
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar
:
agrar siyosat,
qo
‘
riq yerlar,
o
‘
zlashtirish,
paxta maydoni,
viloyat,
Surxon-Sherobod.
Maqolada
1950
–
1980-yillarda
O‘zbekistonda
sovet
hukumatining qishloq xo‘jaligi siyosati ta’sirida Surxon
-
Sherobodda qo‘riq yerlarni o‘zlashtirish, yangi yerlarda
viloyatlar va paxta maydonlarini barpo etish masalalari arxiv
hujjatlari va davriy nashrlar ma’lumotlari yordamida atroflicha
tahlil qilingan.
1
Doctor of Sciences in History (DSc), Professor, Theory of Civil Society Department, Andijan State University,
Republic of Uzbekistan. E-mail: oybek.komilov@bk.ru
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Освоение целинных земель в Узбекистане
(на примере
Сурхан
-
Шерабадской степи, 1950–1980 гг.)
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
аграрная политика,
целина,
освоение,
хлопковое поле,
район,
Сурхан
-
Шерабад.
Статья подробно анализирует влияние аграрной
политики советского правительства на развитие сельского
хозяйства в Узбекистане в 1950
-1980-
е годы. Основное
внимание уделено освоению целины в Сурхан
-
Шерабаде,
формированию областей и созданию хлопковых полей на
новых землях. Анализ проведен на основе архивных
документов и материалов периодической печати.
INTRODUCTION
Mastering measures of the Soviet government focused on the Surkhan-Sherabad
deserts from the 1950s. People who previously lived in villages were forcibly and
voluntarily relocated to the desert areas based on the Soviet resettlement policy to carry
out these mastering measures. For example, “In 1954, the inhabitants of Boysun,
Darband, Khojabolgan, Machai villages were relocated to develop the Sherabad-
Beshkoton desert and develop agriculture” [1, p.134]. At the heart of this practice, in turn,
were measures to expand cotton cultivation and obtain more crops from it. Under the
influence of the agrarian policy, in 1954, in the southern oases of the Surkhan River, the
“Sredazgiprovodkhoz” institute, with the addition of Sherabad lands, created 183,600 ha
of land, 120,000 ha of new land, development, and irrigation project. Land irrigation and
800 million seasonal control of the flow of the Surkhan River were ensured by the South-
Surkhan reservoir with a capacity of m³. A large part of the land, especially the vacant
land in the Khoja-Ipak system, was experiencing a water shortage [2, p.78], and this
problem became an obstacle to the acceleration of large-scale development works.
RESEARCH METHODS
In the article, methods of direct historical comparison, comparative analysis, and
accuracy were used in modern historiography. Through these methods, an attempt was
made to draw relevant scientific conclusions about the Soviet era.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
On July 8, 1957, the Surkhandarya Regional Irrigation System Administration and
the Surkhan Inter-
Kolkhoz Council, and on February 3, 1958, the “Uzgiprovodhoz”
Institute developed a plan for economical use of water in the region. In 1959, the
“Uzgiprovodhoz” institute created a project for the development of irrigation works.
According to him, there are 95,500 hectares of irrigated land in the northern regions of
Surkhandarya region, of which 65,700 hectares were irrigated in 1958, and the
remaining 29,800 hectares were empty [2, p.79]. The total water supply in the Surkhan
River oasis was 75% per year. The following activities were carried out to fulfill the tasks
of the general project:
1. The amount spent on the reconstruction of the main and main water supply
systems of the lands not supplied with water in the steppe is 6.3 mln. amounted to rubles.
Concrete pavements were laid in Topolang, Dashnabod, Khoja-ipak, Sangardak, and as a
result, the volume of water intake from the Topolang and Sangardak rivers in August and
September increased to 25-30%.
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2. Groundwater was used for irrigation, and water was extracted from a depth of
70 m in the places where stones protruded from the bottom of the Khojaipaksoy River in
Shorchi district.
3. 6.1 thousand hectares of land in the Akmasjid massif were irrigated from the
Kafirnigon river, a 33.5 km long main canal was built, and 2.4 thousand hectares were
irrigated with water discharge. The remaining 3,800 hectares of land were irrigated from
this canal by driving a car from 47 to 104 meters above. 3.13 million rubles were spent
on these activities.
4. 17.55 million rubles were spent on the implementation of the existing irrigation
system and general reconstruction works ruble was appropriated [2, p.81]. As a result of
the command policy of the Soviet authorities, the level of additional provision of the
irrigation system in the months of August-September was 75% of the total amount of 103
million m³. In general, the increase in the volume of irrigated land was as follows: the
total volume of land not supplied with water increased by 76.4 thousand, of which 12.8
thousand were accounted for by underground water, in this account, the increase was
22.8 thousand, and 1.2 thousand was accounted for by underground water formed The
area of land supplied with water was 19,100 ha, with an increase of 7,000 ha, totaling
95,500 ha [2, p.82].
The amount of funds spent on the development of irrigation works in North
Surkhandarya is 37.07 million 0.388 thousand rubles per 1 ha of irrigated land area, 1.24
thousand per ha of cotton growing area, 12.186 million investment in agricultural
development, the total amount of investment spent on irrigation construction and
agricultural development was 49,261 thousand rubles [2, p. 83].
The former government fought hard for the development and development of
irrigation in this area, as well as for the establishment of cotton fields on reclaimed land.
In particular, on November 26, 1961, at the meeting of the Technical Council of the
Ministry of Water Management of the UZSSR, the "Irrigation development scheme in the
north of the Surkhandarya region of the UZSSR" was considered [2, p.76]. This
development was presented by the "Uzgiprovodhoz" institute, where the current issues
related to irrigation were discussed in detail. In particular, it was mentioned that there is
280 thousand ha of irrigable land in the oases of the Surkhan and Sherabad rivers of the
Surkhandarya region, of which 128 thousand were developed in 1958, and 152 thousand
were lying vacant. Knowing well that this oasis has very favorable natural and climatic
conditions and allows for further development of cotton cultivation, the Soviet
authorities instructed to use of the waters of the Surkhan River and its Sherabad
tributary to develop it. However, during this period, their natural potential was fully
utilized. The Soviet authorities determined the need to carry out measures to regulate the
flows coming to the rivers to increase the water supply of the area and develop new
lands. In 1961, an irrigation and state farm construction trust was established in the
Sherabad desert in the South Surkhan reservoir area to strengthen the establishment of
new reserve state farms. At the end of this year, a new state farm with a total irrigated
area of 8,226 ha was established based on
6 departments of the “Yangiabad” state farm.
The main adopters are young people, 300 young people came here from the mountainous
Boysun region in March 1962 [3, p.62]. It seems that the central government has
instructed to involve everyone in the development work.
Opening and irrigation of new lands in the Surkhan-Sherabad steppes became the
center of attention of the party-government bodies. Following the decision of the Council
of Ministers of the UzSSR of July 18, 1977 “On the progress of works on integrated
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irrigation and development of the land of the Surkhan-
Sherabad deserts”, the Ministry of
Agriculture of the UzSSR issued an order on July 27 this year [4, p.33]. It was noted that
“Uzglavvodstroy”, the Ministry of Rural Construction of the UzSSR, the Ministry of
Agriculture and the Surkhandarya Regional Executive Committee carried out irrigation
activities for the irrigation of gray lands in the Surkhan-Sherabad deserts and the
construction of new state farms. In particular, in the initial construction, 356 million
capital funds of 333.3 million rubles were used and included in the main fund, 81,200
new lands were prepared and used for agricultural use, 511,500 m² of the residential
area, at the same time, schools, preschool institutions, stores, clubs, baths, and other
cultural and household facilities were built [4, p. 34].
The pace of work of the UzSSR Council of Ministers of the State Farm and Water
Management Departments on the development of new land was increased and the
decrease in the efficiency of capital funds was prevented. In this regard, mainly the
following activities were carried out:
- preparation of new state farmlands in terms of irrigation and melioration and
construction of settlements has been strengthened;
- 16.9 million souls to 8.8 million for construction and assembly works and to
“Uzglavvodstroy” and 8.1 million was allocated to the Ministry of Rural Construction of
the UZSSR;
-
“Uzglavvodstroy” and the Ministry of Rural Construction of the UzSSR took
necessary measures to develop the production base and fully utilize the existing capacity
of the construction industry. Under the influence of the cotton monopoly policy, several
significant works on the development of the Surkhan-Sherabad oasis were carried out. In
particular, by 1980, 40,000 ha of new land was developed in the oasis, and 28,700 ha of
land reclamation was improved [5].
In 1983, the total irrigable land in the Surkhandarya region was 376 thousand ha
of irrigation capacity of the Surkhan River (due to the regulation of its flow in the South
Surkhan, Uchkizil, Degrez, and Oktepa reservoirs) is 2220-
2000 million was m³. During
this period, 75-90% of water needs were met. Taking into account the use of additional
water sources, the water deficit is about 130-
250 million made m³. Because of this, about
260,000 of the irrigable lands were irrigated [6, p.62]. To increase water supply in the
region, the length of concreted networks increased, their length reached 3199.36 km in
1983 [7], including inter-farm networks - 596.07 km, intra-farm networks - 2603.29 km.
In 1982, there were 34 engineering facilities for water discharge in inter-farm networks
[8].
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Soviet government, like other regions, paid great attention to the
development of the reserve and gray lands in Surkhan-Sherabad. These measures were
closely related to the colonial practices of the former government, known as evictions
and cotton monopoly: many families were forcibly relocated from different parts of the
republic, even school children were mobilized for exploitation, etc. In return for such
large losses, cotton plantations were established on the appropriated lands, where fine
fiber cotton was grown mainly for the needs of the center. A large number of state-owned
farms specializing in cotton growing, established in these lands, made a significant
contribution to the development of cotton growing in the republic. However, most of the
cotton raw material grown in these areas was transported to the center.
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