14.05.2004 msk

Kh. Aripov (Ferghana Valley)

Margilan is colloquially known as the silk capital of Uzbekistan. Traditions of silkworm breeding and weaving in the Ferghana Valley go back to the era of the Silky Way when vendors from Davani (one of the Chinese names of the valley) disguised as monks smuggled the first cocoons from China in their staffs.

Margilan satin was known throughout the world for its unique design. Satin clothes used to be considered the national wear of Uzbek women.

Margilan Silk Factory, one of the largest manufacturers in the world that used to produce silk by 2 - 3 kilometers every day, is running at 10% its capacity, these days. Most subsidiaries went broke several years ago. Thousands and thousands workers joined the army of the unemployed in the most densely populated and poorest region of the country.

The collapse is ascribed to disintegration of the market that used to be the Soviet Union once. In the USSR, the factory was an element of the military-industrial complex specializing in production of watertight (but not airtight) materials. When the sales went down, adaptation of the conveyor belt to production of national wear alone proved too difficult.

"I would not say that satin is not fashionable or anything," said Azamkhon Abdullayev, director of Yedgorlik Factory where silk is made manually. "Unfortunately, the new realities have not failed to affect our sphere... These days, women wear silk only for traditional celebrations like weddings. In every day life, they prefer cheaper and more practical materials that emphasize individuality. Our small business (we have about 300 employees only) turned out to be better adapted to the new realities."

"Along with expensive fabrics of pure silk (it is still popular with foreigners and prosperous locals), we produce semi-silk materials, something like adras, that are considerably less expensive and may be washed and even ironed," Abdullayev said.

Customs barriers notwithstanding, there are lots of relatively cheap cotton and semi-silk materials brought from China via Kyrgyzstan in Ferghana cities. It is not every day that one may see a woman dressed entirely in silks in Ferghana streets nowadays. All the same, Yedgorlik products are in high demand. The factory is a small fragment of the former Margilan silk colossus that is not running in the red.

Raw materials - cocoons - are mostly produced by individual manufacturers nowadays. Like the family of Ganizhon Ibraimov from Kurganchi, an outlying district of Ferghana. He keeps silkworms in his patio, in a special building with room temperature and protection from the sun. It takes 28 - 29 days for a tiny egg (just like a grain of sand) to develop into a cocoon - from the middle of April to the middle of May provided nourishment is good. Silkworms eat and eat. They require only tender foliage of mulberry trees harvested at dawn when they are still damp. Peasants harvest them between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., before the work in the fields begins.

A family may earn up to 40,000 sums ($40) in a season - not a lot but a substantial supplement for impoverished peasants all the same.

Unfortunately, not everything is simple. Last summer, mulberry trees in the Ferghana Valley (they grow everywhere - along the roads and irrigation ditches and cotton fields) were afflicted with a parasite devouring foliage. Tiny worms - distant relatives of silkworms but absolutely useless - multiplied.

There were even the rumors that the epidemic was in fact an economic terrorist act arranged by enemies of sovereignty and independence. Fortunately, old men recalled that there had been similar epidemics in the past.

A decade ago cotton fields were subjected to aerial dusting which affected environment and the locals. Ecological system recovered some in the last few years without the mass use of defoliants but so did parasites. Poisoning them is not an option because silkworms will be inevitably affected.

While scientists are busy looking for a way out, peasants resort to folk remedies. In the fall, they cover the trunks with straw or rags and burn them in the spring along with parasites. It helps but not much. This spring, the epidemic went down some.

"How many families can the Yedgorlik factory feed?" asked Umid, a city-dweller. "Something has to be done to help the silk factory recover... or sell it to foreigners who will refurbish it and make the factory viable again."

Foreign investors are not in a hurry to buy enterprises in Margilan. Their experts say that investments in silk production are very promising but risky right now because China is undercutting prices in the world market. The Uzbek market as such lacks the necessary potential that will guarantee the return of the funds invested in refurbishment.

Silk capital of Uzbekistan (population: about 160,000 residents) is waiting for changes. Former weavers are dealing in the materials imported from Osh, Kyrgyzstan.