Among the fifteen former Soviet republics, Turkmenistan is the most threatened by severe food insecurity, affecting over 12 percent of its seven-million population, the World Bank's data from 2024 showed.

One of the most reclusive countries in the world, Turkmenistan has been ruled continuously since 2006 by the father-and-son duo: Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his son Serdar.

Gurbanguly is the subject of an intense personality cult and has been officially proclaimed the "leader of the Turkmen nation" and the "hero-Arkadag", or hero-protector in Turkmen.

"For this year's harvest, new high-yielding wheat varieties 'Arkadag', 'Serdar' and 'Pyragy' were sown on the country's farmlands," Turkmen state media said.

"They are distinguished by high yields, large grains and low water requirements, which demonstrates their greater efficiency," the statement added.

State television footage on Thursday showed hundreds of people working in fields in front of a portrait of the current President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Information on the country is fragmented, tightly controlled by the state and generally unverifiable.

An employee of the state-owned company "Turkmen Wheat" told AFP on condition of anonymity that the new wheat varieties "were selected on the instructions of President Serdar Berdymukhamedov to improve seeds and their resistance to climate change."

According to the Food and Agriculture Organtization of the United Nations (FAO), "wheat rust diseases threaten to affect approximately 0.5 million hectares of arable land in Turkmenistan, given the climatic conditions."