Land Reforms in Central Asia: The Transition from Production Cooperatives to Services Cooperatives

At the eve of Independence, the political leadership of Central Asian Republics was committed towards privatization. Different liberalization strategies were announced that would follow effective state legislation. It was intended that the privatization program would be extended towards agriculture sector and land reforms would be introduced. But the literature reveals that relatively very little development has been made in this domain and no detailed plan for agriculture reforms or efficient legislation on privatization of agriculture land has been adopted.  This study analyzes the Imperial and post-Imperial era land tenure arrangements in the Central Asian Republics that includes an analysis of the land tenure legislations made so far in the republics during Soviet and post-Soviet era. An analysis of the legislations yields the dramatic presence of imperial legacy in the land tenure system and conspiracy of silence on the land reforms in Central Asian Republics