Reports from the Uzbek Ministry of Agriculture and Water Industry indicate that farmers pledged to produce almost 5 million tons of crops this year in honor of the 15th anniversary of sovereignty. Administrators at all levels meanwhile appear to have pledged to ruin part of the yield no matter what.

Harvesting campaigns began yesterday in the Surkhandarja, Kashkadarja, and Bukhara regions. Wheat comes up early in these regions but... In Uzbekistan, where economy is still based on Soviet administrative-command traditions, beginning of harvesting is dictated by the powers-that-be and not by climatic conditions or readiness of the crops.

Wheat and cotton fields around Bukhara mostly belong to private farms, and farmers maintain that at least wheat needs some more time. Farmers scowl at the order issued by the regional khokim or the head of administration to start harvesting. The khokim in his turn does not care. All he cares about is being the first to report completion of harvesting to the president.

Many farms incurred losses in similarly early harvesting last year when they found themselves unable to sell tons of unripe wheat. That nobody volunteered to recompense them goes without saying. Farmers suspect that the same story awaits them again this year.

Uzbek specialists maintain that the situation with cotton is not any better: early harvesting affects its quality. Administrators in the meantime are only interested in currying favors with their superiors and do not leave farmers alone, telling them again and again to hurry up. Just like in the late USSR.

Uzbek agriculture has retained the worst features of the Soviet administrative-command system.