Land Seizures Spread Across Uzbekistan As Farmers Cite Push For Chinese Capital

(Sadriddin Ashur and Merhat Sharipzhan – RFE/RL) A wave of land disputes that began in eastern Uzbekistan has spread to Sirdaryo, where farmers say authorities are using courts, debt enforcement, and administrative pressure to shift farmland into a system that favors foreign, particularly Chinese, investors. Gayrat Usmonov, a farmer in the Xovos district, lost his leased farmland in 2021 when authorities reassigned it to a Saudi investor. After three years of court battles, Usmonov briefly regained control of the land in 2025, after the investor abandoned the plot. But he says local authorities are once again trying to take away his lease on the land — this time allegedly to make way for Chinese investors. – Land Seizures Spread Across Uzbekistan As Farmers Cite Push For Chinese Capital