The sweet-flavoured, yellow carrots grown by Uzbek farmer Mukhtor Gazatov are a key ingredient in his country’s national pilaf dish — but extreme weather has devastated this year’s harvest.
Cooked with meat, onions, rice and plenty of oil, the carrots are a must-have to make Uzbekistan’s beloved plov, a staple in the Central Asian country of 35 million people.
“They are sweeter than the orange kind and lend a special flavour,” the 60-year-old told AFP at his farm outside the isolated republic’s capital.
But one of the worst droughts in years has hit the ex-Soviet region.
Gazatov’s crops were ruined while shoppers grumble over carrots that are four times more expensive than before, pushing up prices of a plate of plov.
“When the weather is that hot, some carrots simply burn out. The carrots that survive are smaller,” said Gazatov, whose annual income fell by a third.
City temperatures…
