A dehkan farm ( uz, деҳқон хўжаликлари, tg, хоҷагиҳои деҳқонӣ (фермерӣ), tk, daýhan hojalyk, russian: дехканские хозяйства; all from fa, دهقان) is an individual or
family farm
A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family; it is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance.
Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...
in Central Asia. Originally a
Persian word used by the
Sassanid Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
, it is still utilized in the classification systems of several regional governments.
Uzbekistan
In
Uzbekistan,
household plot
Household plot is a legally defined farm type in all former socialist countries in CIS and CEE. This is a small plot of land (typically less than ) attached to a rural residence. The household plot is primarily cultivated for subsistence and its ...
s were reclassified as "dehkan farms" in 1998, at which time the Law of Dehkan Farms was passed. Around 60% of all agricultural production in the country comes from dehkan farms, which control less than 5% of arable land in the country and average less than 0.2
hectares in size.
[Lerman 2008, 488, 495.]
The small dehkan farms grow vegetables and raise livestock. Scale crops, such as
wheat and
cotton, are usually grown on larger
peasant farm
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
s (average size more than 40 hectares
[) and on the few remaining ''shirkats'' (former collective farms). All agricultural land in Uzbekistan is owned by the state. While this situation allows the state to demand certain performance and production standards from larger farms, dehkan farms are allowed to grow whatever the farmers wish. Additionally, unlike larger farms where leases must be renewed, leases for dehkan farms are lifetime holdings and can be transferred through inheritance. They cannot, however, be sold or given to someone outside the family as a gift.
Dehkan farms own 93% of all cattle in Uzbekistan.
]
Tajikistan
In Tajikistan, "dehkan farms" are midsized peasant farms that are legally and physically distinct from household plots. Regulations concerning dehkan farms in Tajikistan are laid out in the ''Law No. 1289 on Dehkan Farms'' from 2016.
Dehkan farms cultivate more than 60% of agricultural land in Tajikistan, averaging about 20 hectares in size (compared to less than 2 hectares in household plots). Dehkan farms concentrate in crop production (cotton, wheat, and vegetables) and their share of livestock is minimal.[ Lerman and Sedik 2009, 310.]
See also
* Agriculture in Central Asia
* Agriculture in Tajikistan
* Agriculture in Uzbekistan Agriculture in Uzbekistan employs 28% of the country's labor force and contributes 24% of its GDP (2006 data). Crop agriculture requires irrigation and occurs mainly in river valleys and oases. Cultivable land is 4.5 million hectares, or about 10% o ...
Notes
References
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{{Tajikistan-stub
Agriculture in Uzbekistan
Agriculture in Tajikistan
Persian words and phrases