LEGAL FOUNDATIONS OF STATE SUPPORT FOR FARMING ENTERPRISES IN UZBEKISTAN: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

This article provides a comprehensive legal analysis of the state support mechanisms for farming enterprises in the Republic of Uzbekistan, drawing upon a comparative study of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the United States Farm Bill system, and Japan’s targeted “Ninaite” model. The study examines the multi-layered normative framework governing subsidies, tax incentives, preferential lending, agricultural insurance, and land tenure guarantees in Uzbekistan, and identifies systemic legal problems that undermine their practical effectiveness. Key findings include the fragmentation of more than fifty-two subsidy types across disparate regulatory instruments; a critical VAT paradox whereby farmers incur tax obligations upon delivery of produce to cotton-textile clusters irrespective of whether payment has been received; structural inequality in preferential lending conditions between clusters and individual farming enterprises; contradictions between presidential moratoria on new entrepreneurial penalties and proposed legislative sanctions; and a documented gap between statutory land-tenure guarantees and their enforcement in practice, as evidenced by the 2026 Human Rights Watch report. The article concludes with targeted legislative reform proposals, including VAT reform linking obligations to the date of payment receipt, codification of agricultural subsidies, alignment of support measures with WTO Agreement on Agriculture classifications, and strengthening judicial enforcement of farmers’ land rights.