It angered local resort communities, which did not want farming in the region. There was governmental opposition that limited water access, killing crops. Irrigation water came from rivers feeding into one of the largest lakes on Earth and resulted in major contamination of that source. It was, for the most part, not a problem.
Full Answer
In February 1976, the head of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic - Sharaf Rashidov - stated that Uzbekistan would supply the Soviet Union with 5.5 million tons of cotton each year, up from four million tons. // Uzbek SSR, 1973. This commitment literally sold the people into servitude.
Cotton in the Soviet Union was a raw material of great strategic importance. Not only was it a vital element in the production of weapons, but it provided affordable clothing for the country’s population. // Cotton harvesting, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), 1973. R. Shamsutdinov/TASS.
In 1983, according to legend, Andropov phoned Rashidov and asked how much cotton would actually be gathered. Rashidov suffered a stroke after this conversation, but it was rumored he drank poison. // Turkmen SSR, 1977. K.Muradov/TASS.
To make up for the shortfall, cottonpickers started putting stones in their sacks, and empty rail carriages were dispatched to Moscow where dishonest officials would take bribes to record them as being full. // Kazakh SSR
Cotton in the Soviet Union was a raw material of great strategic importance.
// Fidel Castro (L) and First Secretary of Uzbekistan's Communist Party Sharof Rashidov (2nd R) and a shepherd at the Sverdlov collective-farm, 1963. Vasily/RIA Novosti.
// Tajik SSR, 1980. Mahmud Babadzhanov/TASS. As a vital commodity for the central authorities, cotton was a real curse for some regions. A huge amount was grown in Uzbekistan.