Chicken instead of cash!

Recently, a city in Uzbekistan has paid wages of school teachers in new-born chickens in lieu of cash. Last year, the authority had reportedly paid their salaries with potatoes, carrots and pumpkins! I find it strange for several reasons.  Uzbekistan is self-sufficient in food and energy and rich in gold. Cotton is a major agricultural crop while other crops like rice and barley, and fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat and milk are produced in plenty to meet up the demands of the people. The country has a great potential to export agricultural produces.

It is not clear why a country like Uzbekistan runs short of cash and needs to pay their teachers' salaries in chicken and vegetables. Why don't they try to export chicken and vegetables and other agricultural products to earn enough foreign exchange to pay their teachers' salaries in cash?

Professor M Zahidul Haque
Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System, SAU 
Dhaka