Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - On 24 April, the next video-conference on the issues of ensuring employment of the population and the resumption of activities of economic sectors was chaired by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The quarantine regime, which has been going on for more than a month, is becoming a test and experience for everyone, especially the heads of government. Video-conference calls are held to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the life of the population, the activities of entrepreneurs and economic sectors, and specific tasks are identified.

At a regular meeting held on 22 April, issues of the stable functioning of economic sectors, employment, social support for needy families were discussed using the example of Samarkand and Namangan regions. At today's meeting, the work carried out in the Ferghana and Kashkadarya regions was reviewed.

As for the epidemiological situation in these regions, in Ferghana region, coronavirus was detected in 120, in Kashkadarya region - in 6 citizens.

During the quarantine period, production fell sharply at 10 thousand enterprises in Ferghana and 11 thousand in Kashkadarya. As a result, the number of unemployed has grown significantly. In addition, 56 thousand live in Ferghana, and 91 thousand families in need in Kashkadarya.

At the meeting, the Ministry of Health and khokims of these areas were instructed to analyze the regions and activities for high, medium and low risk of spread of infection, and taking into account this, make proposals for the phased mitigation of quarantine restrictions for consideration by the Republican Special Commission.

This year, 632 billion soums were allocated for the construction and reconstruction of 130 objects in the Ferghana region, 536 billion soums in 132 objects in Kashkadarya. However, in the first quarter, disbursement of funds and implementation of projects lagged behind the targets.

Given that to ensure employment, permission was given to continue the construction industry, the President noted the need to accelerate work at all facilities in these regions.

Uninterrupted supply of food to the population and maintaining stable prices in the domestic market is the most pressing issue. A large reserve in this regard is the space between the rows of gardens and vineyards.

In Ferghana and Kashkadarya there are orchards and vineyards with an area of 34 thousand hectares and more than 22 thousand hectares, respectively. However, usually only 20 percent of the row spacing is planted. With this in mind, the regional khokimiyats were instructed to organize a complete planting of row-spacing of orchards and vineyards with various crops and thereby ensure employment of the population.

The importance of the construction of wells on withdrawn from circulation and rainfed lands, to divide the plots among the population, was emphasized. For these purposes, 15 and 11 billion soums were allocated to Ferghana and Kashkadarya, respectively.

Instructions were given to provide work for low-income families through the distribution of livestock, poultry and bee hives, and to increase the procurement of products.

Due to the expected shortage of water this year, difficulties may arise in the irrigation of re-crops in Uzbekistan, Uchkuprik, Yazyavan, Kushtepa, Mirishkarsky, Nishansky, Mubarek and Kasbinsky districts. Therefore, as emphasized at the meeting, it is possible to grow export-oriented legumes less demanding on water.

The feasibility of cultivating 50-60 percent of the land freed from grain by farmers themselves and the distribution of the remainder among the population temporarily left without work and in need of assistance under quarantine is noted.

The khokims of Ferghana and Kashkadarya regions reported on the upcoming work to resume the activities of enterprises in compliance with the rules of quarantine, ensuring employment.

Information is also provided on the work on targeted financial support for families in need as part of the activity of the nation-wide movement “Compassion and Support”, relevant initiatives put forward by entrepreneurs.