Water conservation is essential to prevent salinity and land degradation in Central Asia. Therefore, field-testing and evaluation of water conservation methods, i.e. laser land leveling in new farming systems of Central Asia is important task. This in mind the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and its regional partner on IWRM FV (IWRM FV project -Integrated Water Resources Management in Ferghana Valley project is funded by Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and conducted jointly with IWMI and Scientific Information Center of Interstate Coordination Water Commission (SIC ICWC) in the Ferghana Valley of Central Asia) project SIC ICWC have conducted 3 year study of impacts of the Laser leveled land leveling on water use, productivity and crop yields in northern Tajikistan. The major research question was laser land leveling an effective water saving tool in the new context of land use and ownership on smaller private plots. Can farmers afford the costs of laser land leveling and how economically viable is it? These research questions were studied in 5 ha laser leveled and neighboring non-leveled (control) fields for 2004-2006. The results showed that laser land leveling can reduce the water application rate in 2004 by 593 M 3 /ha, in 2005 by 1509 M 3 /ha and in 2006 by 333 M 3 /ha in comparison with the unleveled field, located in the similar agro-ecological conditions. The deep percolation was 8% lower and run off 24% less than in non-leveled field. The average annual net income from the laser field was 22% higher than that from the control field. The gross margin from the laser-leveled field were 16. 88 and 171% higher compared to that from the control field for 2004, 2005 and 2006, and on average was 92% higher. In spite of these positive results, there are hindrances on wide application of laser land leveling in Tajikistan. These are absence of initial capital of farmers and scattered land location.
This paper examines the recent emerging informal Water Users Groups (WUGs) on the Ferghana Valley for managing of the water at the former collective farm level and potential for strengthening of the weak Water Users Associations (WUAs) through replication of WUGs formation. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asian states have introduced reforms in different sectors including the water resources sectors. As a part of the water resources management reforms, Water Users Associations (WUAs) formation has implemented to manage water resources infrastructure and water distribution. WUGs have been emerging because WUAs have not been very efficient and effective due to their top-down implementation approach. In future, WUGs are very effective institutional mechanism of water resources management, and a useful support instrument to WUAs.
ABSTRACT, indicating a significant potential for improving water productivity through agronomic and irrigation management interventions. The ratio of average ET a divided by average TWA gave an average application efficiency of 78% (some fields under-irrigated and some fields over-irrigated), the remaining 22% of water applied leaving the field. Since more than 60% of the water used for irrigation in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is pumped from, even if all this 22% of water returns to the stream, substantial energy savings would accrue from improving the average application efficiency at field level. The range of values for TWA indicates the inequity in water distribution/accessibility. Addressing this inequity would also increase water productivity at field and project level.
The Ferghana Valley Project, initiated in 2001, has promoted institutional change in the post-Soviet irrigation sector in this part of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This paper presents the short-term (5-year) impacts of integrated water resources management project activities focused on water user participation in the South Ferghana Canal of Ferghana Province in Uzbekistan on irrigation water delivery and crop productivity. Irrigation performance assessment indicators indicate only slight improvements in water delivery and crop yields. Although water was important, larger changes in the agricultural sector of Uzbekistan dominated outcomes in this relatively short time span
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.