Gender imbalances limit water and energy management in Uzbekistan

By Muzna Alvi and Farha Sufian

Promotion of water-intensive cotton and wheat for export has caused the Aral Sea, once one of the world’s largest lakes, to shrink dramatically. Uzbekistan, a downstream riparian country in the Aral Sea Basin, requires large amounts of water for irrigation, and for energy processing and electricity generation. In turn, energy is needed to pump, transport, distribute, and treat water needed for irrigation. The country is projected to experience significant climate change impacts, including from temperature increases, more intense heat waves, and increased rainfall variability. All this is likely to intensify the already critical water and environmental crisis in the region, affecting agriculture productivity and livelihoods.

Uzbekistan’s shrinking water resources have made it necessary to invest in a different way of irrigation. The country has a large and ambitious program to encourage water-saving technology adoption, but its reach and target is limited to large farms growing cotton and wheat. Given that Uzbekistan has 4.8 million smallholder farms, there is a need to know whether there is demand for such technology among these farmers, and how best to encourage adoption.

A dearth of data on women farmers

Rural women in Uzbekistan have very limited opportunities for employment outside of agricultural work. Traditional family structures mean that, other than unpaid care work in the household, their roles are usually restricted to low-skilled manual labor, and informal seasonal or temporary work.

However, gender-equitable climate and agrarian policies are hampered by a near absence of gender-disaggregated data. There is little evidence on women’s access to assets, agriculture extension, mechanization, and energy. Referring to the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) on women’s decision-making, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s report on gender in agriculture in Uzbekistan states that “if such surveys were to be conducted in Uzbekistan, they would greatly enhance the understanding of the gendered patterns of decision-making in agriculture.”

Under the CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, CGIAR centers, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA, conducted a household survey with over 1,800 small farming households in four regions in Uzbekistan: Samarkand, Khorezm, Quashkadarya, and Fergana. The survey covered crop economics, climate change experiences and adaptation strategies, and adoption of water-saving technologies. It also included the project-level WEAI (Pro-WEAI) and questions on women’s decision-making over energy choices. This study was the first to use the Pro-WEAI in Uzbekistan, following similar surveys in India, Pakistan, and Nepal as part of NEXUS Gains. This has enabled the creation of a regional gender-disaggregated database covering the Indus, Aral Sea, and Ganges basins.

Women in farming: seen but not heard

At the recent NEXUS Gains regional stakeholder workshop in Tashkent, researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) presented results from the study that show that women’s empowerment in agriculture is very low in Uzbekistan. Contributing factors include a lack of active membership in community groups, limited access to credit, and time constraints. Less than a quarter of the women have access to a bank account, and only 0.2 percent are part of an agricultural producer group, which restricts their economic opportunities and access to resources. On average, women in the sample spend nearly 12 hours on productive tasks each day, including 6 hours spent caring for children and managing both household and agricultural duties. This limits their capacity to take on income-generating activities or participate in community decision-making. Overcoming these challenges requires not only improving access to financial services and community networks but also addressing the time poverty that disproportionately affects women in rural Uzbekistan.

Access to reliable energy sources has significant implications for women’s well-being, productivity, and economic opportunities. In rural areas, women often encounter barriers to participating in energy-related decision-making, which can further entrench existing gender inequalities. Researchers assessed women’s agency in energy decisions for both domestic and productive use using the Women’s Empowerment in Energy Score (WEES). The findings show significant gender disparities, with a much lower score for women, including across all indicators. Despite women being the primary users of energy for domestic purposes, men are more involved in decisions related to acquiring energy sources. Additionally, women struggle significantly in sourcing the energy needed for both domestic and productive uses. But energy empowerment is important: women with higher WEES are more likely to notice long-term climate changes in their region, and are more aware that agricultural practices contribute to climate change. This suggests that greater energy empowerment may heighten women’s awareness and sensitivity to environmental shifts, which could inform more sustainable energy practices and decision-making across farms.

Farmers were found to be willing to adopt water-saving technology but needed subsidies and support, while women were more willing to adopt it, but only at higher levels of subsidy. Information is a binding constraint, in addition to affordability – at each subsidy level, farmers who were aware of or had experience of using such technology were more willing to adopt it. Uzbekistan needs new ways to address its water and energy challenges. The role of small farms, including the women that work there, is vital.

Muzna Alvi is Research Fellow with the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit at IFPRI; Farha Deba Sufian is an independent consultant based in London.

This work was carried out under the CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, and with support from the Methods Module of the CGIAR Gender Platform, which are grateful for the support of CGIAR Trust Fund contributors: www.cgiar.org/funders

Header image: NEXUS Gains collaborators from University of Wisconsin–Madison (Professor Paul Dower, left, and PhD student Anton Liutin, right) with a farmer (center) during fieldwork in Uzbekistan. Photo from Anton Liutin.