Julia Eckert, Georg Elwert (1996):
Land Tenure in Uzbekistan

2.4 Shirkat

Shirkat is a system of partial lease. Many kolkhozes have been divided up into their former production units (e.g. grain, cotton, vegetables etc.) which now form one Shirkat. Most Shirkats consist of 4 to 5 former brigades and uses 50 to 60 ha land. The Shirkat leases the land for ten years. Every Shirkat has a chairman, who acts as the tenant towards the kolkhoz or the shareholding. He distributes the land of the Shirkat to the Shirkat members. Contracts are usually signed for one year and most plots are between one and five ha large. The size of the plot depends, firstly, on the number of Shirkat members between whom the land has to be divided and, secondly, on the family size of the tenant. The reasons that the contracts extend only for one year were threefold. Firstly, the frequent legal changes made long-term contracts inappropriate as they could not be changed according to the changes of the law. "the land reform is only an experiment." [FN 63] Long-term contracts would only be feasible when the legal situation was clear. [FN 64] Secondly, the ability of each tenant had to be proven before each would be granted a long-term lease. Thirdly, in some kolkhozes only part of the production process was leased out, while other tasks, like sowing, were done collectively each year. [FN 65]

Experiences from other countries suggest that the durability of contracts have a strong impact on farmers incentives to invest. Inputs vary according to the number of years. In the case of most crops one year contracts equal one harvest in Uzbekistan. They will a stimulate different investment behaviour than ten year contracts or heritable leases. Uzbek land rights do not aim at stimulating farmers' investment. This contradicts the explicit goal to increase agricultural production.