ABSTRACT
With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has pursued a programme of economic reform designed to transform the centrally planned economy to one based on market principles. A successful transition to a market economy in Kyrgyzstan would depend in large part on the implementation of reforms in the agricultural sector and in rural areas. Despite considerable progress with land reform and farm restructuring since 1991, the achievements fall short of original expectations of the international donors. In other words, although collective farms were dismantled and land was privatized “agricultural transformation has not produced a quick increase in production because most land remains in collective ownership; most peasants prefer to remain in the safety of large cooperatives” (Csaki and Lerman 1997: 428). Despite the reorganization of collective farms into small cooperatives, most of the villagers still do not know how to use land in a sustainable and effective way and they lack knowledge on how to exist in a market economy producing for national and international markets. People in rural areas remain poor and young people continue to migrate to urban areas or Russia in search of better opportunities. Furthermore, as local services are inefficient, people make contact with local entrepreneurs in order to make ends meet. This chapter specifically focuses on the unique “kolkhoz” case that is reshaped after the destruction of collective farms and their reorganization into small entities.
