producer in the world, just behind China); 1.8 million tons of watermelon (8th largest producer in the world); 1.5 million tons of grape (15th largest producer in the world); 1.4 million tons of onion (15th largest producer in the world); 1.1 million tons of apple (14th largest producer in the world); 857 thousand tons of cucumber (7th largest producer in the world); 743 thousand tons of cabbage; 493 thousand tons of apricot (2nd largest producer in the world, just behind Turkey); 413 thousand tons of maize; 254 thousand tons of garlic; 221 thousand tons of rice; 172 thousand tons of cherry; 161 thousand tons of peach; 134 thousand tons of plum (17th largest producer in the world); In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products. At the end of 2013, the government announced through the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan that it predicted agriculture as playing a major component of the country's economic development in the future. Agriculture in Uzbekistan employs 28% of labor force and contributes 24% of GDP (2006 data). Another 8% of GDP is from processing of domestic agricultural output. Cotton, once Uzbekistan's star cash earner, has lost much its luster since independence as wheat began to gain prominence from considerations of food security for the rapidly growing population. Areas cropped to cotton were reduced by more than 25% from 2 million hectares in 1990 to less than 1.5 million hectares in 2006, while wheat cultivation jumped 60% from around 1 million hectares in 1990 to 1.6 million hectares in 2006. Cotton production dropped from 3 million tons annually in the pre-independence decade to around 1.2 million tons since 1995, but even at these reduced levels Uzbekistan produces 3 times as much cotton as all the other Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan combined. Cotton exports tumbled from highs of around 45% of Uzbekistan's total exports in the early 1990s to 17% in 2006. Uzbekistan is the largest producer of jute in West Asia and it also produces significant quantities of silk (Uzbek ikat), fruit, and vegetables, with food products contributing nearly 8% of total exports in 2006. Virtually all agriculture requires irrigation, but because of budgetary constraints there has been practically no expansion of irrigated area since independence: it remains static at 4.2 million hectares, the level reached by 1990 after rapid growth during the Soviet period. Government intervention in agriculture is reflected in