Nurafshon (Uzbekistan) (AFP) – 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.
