About 1 per cent of the country’s land is set aside for the peaceful invasion of Chinese farmers. The government claims labour shortages in rural areas are to blame because so many Tajiks go abroad to work. It also says Chinese farmers will bring new farming technique that will benefit everyone. However, dissatisfaction is growing in a population that already has to endure food shortages.

Dushanbe (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Some 1,100 square kilometres of Tajik land (about 1 per cent of the county's total land area) have been ceded to China for agricultural purposes. Hundreds of Chinese farmers from Xinjiang are coming to grow rice and cotton in Kumsangir and Bokhtar districts of southern Khatlon Province, but are meeting hostility from the local population.

People are complaining that the land should go to poor Tajik farmers rather than foreigners. They note that 93 per cent of the country is mountainous, and not all of the remaining seven per cent is arable.

The vast majority of rice and cotton Tajik farmers grow is exported for hard currency to pay the huge national debt. Food and staples are already scarce in Tajikistan, and now outsiders will be allowed to benefit from the bounty of the land.

The government has defended its decision, saying the mountainous and unpopulated land along Tajikistan's eastern border contains little of value, with no farmland, minerals, or other resources.

However, the authorities have not been very forthcoming about the deal, which surprised the population when it was announced. In fact, it is not at all clear what Beijing will give in exchange for the land.

With thousands of Tajiks working abroad, especially Russia, for months on end or on a permanent basis, there are labour shortages in rural areas.

Tilomurod Daniyarov, an official with the Agricultural Ministry's international affairs department, told Radio Free Europe that the Chinese have promised to introduce drip-irrigation methods and other contemporary farming techniques to the regions and share their expertise and technology with neighbouring Tajik communities.

Some experts warn though that Beijing might try a peaceful “occupation”. Tajik sociologist Rustam Haidarov warns for example that, “It is China's strategy to resettle its people in different countries.” First, “They occupy slowly, cautiously. They realise their own goals in Tajikistan and affect our economic policy. In time this will lead to an influence in politics.”

China has invested some US$ 4 billion in Tajikistan in recent years, and is participating in a number of joint projects. But for the most part, it sends its own workforce to implement such projects, meaning unemployed Tajik workers get no relief.

According to the Tajikistan's labour migration service, there were some 30,000 Chinese migrant workers in Tajikistan in 2007, mostly employed in road construction, electrical substations and mining sites. By 2010, they numbered some 82,000.

Many newcomers are merchants who become permanent residents. They sell discounted wares from China whose price their Tajik counterparts cannot match. Once driven out of business, indigenous merchants have little choice but to join the ranks of migrant workers in Russia.

Even Kazakhstan's president proposed a similar deal to China at the end of 2009, but it proved so unpopular that the idea was quickly dropped.

• tajikistan
• china
• land
• rice
• cotton
• occupation
• invasion
• merchants
• unfair
• competition