In March 2026, PhD candidate Ms. Ek Sreykhouch from the Cooperative Research Group, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), completed a one-month Erasmus+ traineeship at Tashkent State Technical University (TSTU), Uzbekistan.
The traineeship strengthened academic cooperation between CZU and TSTU and provided an opportunity to explore Uzbekistan’s agricultural systems, rural development challenges, and emerging cooperative policies. Particular attention was given to Uzbekistan’s efforts to diversify its economy from reliance on oil and gas toward the development of agriculture.
The experience highlighted key challenges related to water scarcity, climate change, and market coordination. It also provided insight into Uzbekistan’s recent cooperative development, particularly the newly adopted Law on Agricultural Cooperatives, adopted in November 2024 and effective from February 2025. This law provides a legal framework for creating, operating, reorganizing, and liquidating agricultural cooperatives, marking an important recent step in the country’s efforts to strengthen collective action in agriculture.
