Changing patterns of water distribution under the influence of land reforms and simultaneous WUA establishment

In 2005 the Uzbek government accelerated the dissolution process of collective farms through full-scale land reform. As the central production unit, the collective enterprise was supplanted by a private, family-based enterprise. Simultaneously Water Users Associations (WUAs) were established that operate and maintain the irrigation and drainage infrastructure of the former collective farms. Though these land-cum-water reforms could in principle initiate enormous changes, there is still a strong continuity due to the state-regulated agricultural system. Although officially only cotton and wheat production are still subject to a state order system, the whole agricultural production is still under strict state control. This paper builds on research conducted during the spring and summer of 2005 and 2006 in the oasis of Khorezm, Uzbekistan. Through field walks in combination with semi- and non-structured interviews, two cases of water management at former collective farm (FCF) level were distinguished: one at the onset of reform and one two years after full-scale reforms. The former shows the strong interlinkage at FCF level between the control of agricultural production and water management. However, the second case shows that even in the post-reform context, where the co-ordination of production and the control of cropping areas are formally no longer arranged at this level, these functions are informally reproduced through the new institutions. The WUA forms a crucial link between privatised producers and a state preoccupied with control.