Southern economic region and Kashkadarya region

The Southern economic region lies in the south of the country and consists of Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions. It borders Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and meets the Zarafshan region in the north; its area is about a tenth of the country’s and its population about a sixth. The bridge over the Amu Darya raised the region’s position to an international level: part of the trade and economic contact with Afghanistan passes through Termez. As desert and mountain pastures are developed, natural pastures shrink, and phyto-melioration is carried out in the deserts so that karakul farming is not harmed. Fuel and energy resources are abundant: gas fields such as Shurtan and Mubarak in Kashkadarya have been important for the country, and Surkhandarya has coal and oil; rock salt, marble, limestone and gypsum are a base for the chemical and building materials industries. Population is uneven: dense in irrigated districts (100–250 people per sq km), sparse in mountains, deserts and semi-deserts. Livestock holds a special place in agriculture: karakul, Hissar and fat-tailed sheep, and goats. The industry of the two regions differs sharply: extractive industry is strong in Kashkadarya, while Surkhandarya’s share of national industry is small. All kinds of transport exist in the region; the Tashguzar–Baysun–Kumkurgan railway connected sparsely developed mountain districts to the network and increased freight.