In the shade of an almond tree, Zubayda Pardayeva begins the age-old process of turning cocoons into silk that Uzbekistan wants to overhaul. The silk industry — an ancestral tradition in the Central Asian country which is the world’s third biggest producer — is state-controlled and unprofitable, but President Shavkat Mirziyoyev wants to make the silk sector one of the country’s major employers by 2027. “It is manual labour” Zubayda explains, adding that “caring for silkworms is a very difficult process”. AFP
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