Will Uzbekistan Finally Solve the Problem of Forced Labor Through Mechanization

Isolated cases of forced labor point to deeper structural contradictions in how cotton production in Uzbekistan is still managed.

Uzbekistan has spent the last decade working to reform its notorious cotton sector, which once relied on one of the world’s largest state-run systems of forced labor. But as the 2025 cotton harvest showed, the state’s administrative control over the sector and unfinished reforms continue to harbor the old practice of forcing residents to pick cotton or pay for replacement pickers when there are not enough people willing to go to the fields voluntarily.

While Uzbekistan has made significant progress in dismantling its centralized system of government-organized forced labor in cotton harvesting, coercive practices have not been entirely eliminated.

Despite the fact that the entire cotton crop produced by farmers is delivered to private cotton processing companies, the so-called cotton clusters, the government continues to closely oversee the harvest. Daily cotton schedule meetings are still held with local officials to ensure that farmers meet a daily picking quota of roughly 4 percent of their overall production quota.

Local authorities remain trapped