Abstract
With resource self-sufficiency a key concern under Stalin’s rule, the early Soviet state invested in exploring new crops for its fibre-processing industry. Deccan hemp, flax and ramie were experimented with across Central Asia as a substitute for cotton. During the first five-year plan, much hope rested on kendyr’ (Apocynum sibiricum Pall.), which had been used by the indigenous pastoralist population for rope-making and coarse yarns. Based on recent archival research in Almaty, Kazakhstan, this article scrutinizes the efforts of Soviet agronomical institutions to exploit an indigenous resource for industrial use. In doing so, it asks what framing conditions have driven experiments with kendyr’ from late Tsarist times. It aims to highlight not only its demise, given the lack of experience and knowledge, particularly with growing kendyr’ on an industrial scale, but also the deficit in resources that would otherwise have ensured its mass cultivation in Soviet Central Asia.