On 11 October, following some publications in independent news outlets pertaining to the use of forced labour on cotton fields and the protest action organized by Cotton Campaign activists in New York, pro-governmental Turkmen media outlets commented on the situation for the first time and expressed their position in this regard.
Formally, these publications cannot be referred to as the official viewpoint of Turkmenistan’s authorities since these media outlets are registered in Russia and are considered to be Russian news agencies at least from a legal perspective.
However, taking into account their previous explicitly pro-governmental publications and the fact that one of the these media outlets (Arzuw News) was promoted by Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Khadjiev at the OSCE Human dimensions conference, their interpretation can be clearly viewed as the viewpoint which is quite close to the official position of the Turkmen authorities.
Taking into account the above reservations it can be stated that this is the first response of Turkmenistan to accusations by human rights activists of the use of forced labour on cotton fields. For this reason it is worth while reviewing these articles in greater detail.
The key question
Regrettably, no direct response is provided to the main claim on using forced labour on the fields. However, it is implied that people go to cotton fields voluntarily.
“It is worthy of note that every citizen regardless of their employment status can be involved in the cotton harvesting campaign. Some Turkmen residents perceive the cotton harvesting campaign as an additional income to their base salary”, — the news agency Turkmenportal reports.
The wording “Every citizen, regardless of their employment status” explains how medical doctors and teachers, who are considered to be employed at that time, are mobilized during the cotton harvesting campaign.
In other words, as viewed by Turkmenistan’s authorities, public sector employees voluntarily go to cotton fields at off hours in an attempt to make extra money.
Despite the fact that forced labour is officially prohibited in Turkmenistan, public sector employees are urged to be deployed on cotton fields under the threat of terminations.
One can pay a bribe to be exempt from the cotton harvesting campaign by sending another person as a replacement.In Turkmenistan they are referred to as “contract workers”.
This will cost 10 to 20 manats a day ($0,5-1,25 using the “black” market rate).People are mobilized to work on the fields for a week’s shift or for a couple of days during the work week or at the weekend.
Yet, this does not mean that the person who hired a replacement worker can stay at home as he is still obliged to go to work.
Can people really earn some money on the fields and how much are they paid?
Yes, it is possible to make money. Otherwise “contract workers” would hardly take up the jobs. Overall, the remuneration depends on the harvest but people cannot earn a lot on money while working on the fields.
Turkmen media outlets report that since October 2018 a cotton harvester has been paid 60-80 tenge (3-4 cents) per kilo of harvested cotton.The previous fee was 40-50 tenge.
These are important numbers as, according to our sources, in practice people are paid 20 tenge a kilo, according to ATN editor-in-chief up to 30.
It is obvious that the difference ends up in somebody’s pockets.
A daily quota is 50 kilos of harvested cotton. In case of a good harvest “professional” cotton pickers can harvest as much as 70 to 80 kilos but this would be a rare exception.
It turns out that under perfect conditions (50 kilos at 60-80 cents plus the fee paid by the person who has hired a worker) and using the updated rates the average daily income amounts to 40-60 fees ($2-3).
From this amount one should deduct expenses for meals and contingency expenditures, for example, transportation costs if no bus transportation is arranged to take people back to the city.
In practice the situation is much worse.This year there is almost no cotton on the fields because of poor harvest.Cotton pickers manage to harvest less than 10 kilos per day.
As has been previously mentioned, field workers are paid only 20-30 tenge rather than 60-80 tenger per kilo, which is also not much.
Yet, the article says that cotton harvesters are provided with three meals a day?
According to reports by official media outlets, it is true. Moreover, except meals, which are provided for field workers, field libraries and concerts are arranged for cotton harvesters.
In practice, land tenants provide meals only to conscripts who receive no remuneration for harvested cotton crops. We would refrain from providing a serious comment about concerts and libraries.
Why do people accept these job offers?
According to the website Turkmenportal, the main goal is to make some extra money on top of their salaries.Since the situation in the labour market is extremely complicated and people, especially rural inhabitants, have no choice.
They agree to take up the job hoping that they will be transported to the fields full of crops and they will be able to collect a lot of cotton.
Many realize that they might spend all money on food later in the day, but they will at least have enough food to eat. Moreover, they are employed for the entire season and have no idea if the crop yield will be high.
Why aren’t combine harvesters used during the cotton harvesting campaign? Turkmenistan regularly purchases expensive agricultural machinery.
According to Turkmen media outlets, “cotton quality is much better” during manual cotton harvesting and allows harvesting all crops without any losses.
In practice it is much easier to use forced labour than rent machinery. Moreover, farming equipment is not always available. Like all expensive equipment in Turkmenistan, which is purchased by the authorities, the authorities try to put away new agricultural machinery so that it does not break.
There are no funds in etrap’s budget (the administrative and territorial unit) to be allocated for spare parts and repair works and in case of inspection combine harvesters and tractors must be in working order.
As regards “purity” of the harvested cotton, all branches of the state-controlled economy are interested in the quantity of harvested crops rather than the quality.Cotton pickers are paid for quantity, not for quality and consequently, they do their best to make a cotton sack heavy rather than be full of “pure” cotton.
For this reason people do various tricks from putting small branches, leaves and even stones to a pile of cotton to even pouring water which soaks into cotton to make a sack heavier.
Tenant farmers are interested in the quantity of harvested cotton as they are obliged to fulfill the plan by all means. The crops exceeding the plan volumes can be sold to private businesses at a market price rather than the state-established fees.
Local officials are also held responsible for the quantity rather than quality.
Therefore it can hardly be assumed that “pure” cotton is of significance to cotton pickers, tenant farmers or officials.
What about tenant farmers? Why do they sow and harvest cotton if it is not profitable?
The author of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan Ata Garlyev gave a detail report about daikhans’ income and their working conditions. In a nutshell, they have no other jobs.