Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources
• Environmental protection

Use of water resources

Country: Turkmenistan

Country: Uzbekistan

Province: Fergana Region

District: Qo'shtepa District

Other settlement: Komilzhon Kurbonov Sakhovati Farm

17,238 ha of barkhan (sand dune), takyr (dry-type playa) and solonchak (moist-type playa) sites of the Kara Kum Desert; deep ground water occurrence

• Upper stream of the Syr Darya River (Fergana Region);
• Central climatic zone;
• Shallow ground water occurrence;
• Irrigated agriculture within a closed horizontal drainage (CHD) zone

Start date: 01.01.2012

End date: 31.12.2016

Start date: 01.01.2014

End date: 31.12.2015

Desertification and decreased productivity of desert pastures due to over-grazing around existing cattle watering sites

Deficiency of irrigation water during certain periods of vegetation

Technology of building sardobas (stone-dome covered water collection and storage reservoirs) to enhance pasture water supply

Technology of crop irrigation via ground water feeding the level of which is regulated by means of a control device installed in the observation well

Main actions:

• mudflow and flood risk assessment and surveying local population regarding sardobas’ locations.

Actions:

• selection of takyrs to construct sardobas jointly with local cattle-farmers;
• construction of sardobas jointly with local cattle-farmers;
• cleaning takyr surfaces.

Results:

• pastures that were not previously utilized due to absence of water sources returned to pasture rotation;
• pastures destroyed due to over-grazing started to restore;
• increased herd productivity due to reduced passage distances and higher fodder value of pastures.

The gate devices used abroad are expensive and inconvenient as to their maintenance.  The control device designed by the ICWC Research Center allows regulating ground water level (GWL) by way of altering the device’s height (for example, its height can be 90 cm).  Besides, it is easily installed and dismantled after use.

Actions:

1. Selection and justification of the choice of a plot for potential drainage (admissible ground water mineralization should not exceed 3 g/l);
2. Detailed analysis of interaction between irrigation and drainage on the level of farms and WUAs (Water User Associations);
3. Mounting and installation of GWL control device;
4. Fitting the drained plot with modern tools and monitoring the elements of water-salt balance in the aeration zone;
5. Impact assessment of water supply and GWL regulation on soil humidity and salination, drainage discharge and drainage water mineralization as well as crops productivity.

Results:

Financial and economic:

• Low overall costs of the GWL control device compared to similar foreign devices;
• Increased (5-8%) productivity of winter wheat compared to control land plot.

Technical:

rational use of surface water.

Environmental:

reduced drainage.

Lessons learnt:

Construction of sardobas in takyr areas allows enhancing pasture water supply, thus, leading to the restoration of over-grazed pastures.

Recommendations:

The practice requires long-term planning and an integrated response with the early-on engagement of desertification experts (designing a set of measures to protect takyrs from sand drifts), state agencies (technical assistance) and pasture users (observance of pasture rotation schemes, prevention of takyrs from contamination and pollution).

Lessons learnt:

The approach has been proved as a constructive way of converting research outcomes into real-life solutions.  The approach will also help expanding the results of controlled drainage from the field level to the level of WUA and, over time, up to the level of irrigation system.

Recommendations:

It is necessary to scale-up the practice in other regions and districts with identical conditions of irrigated land and install this control model in other CHD zones.

Traditional tools transferred from generation to generation that proved their efficiency in modern conditions

• Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations);
• Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

1. Cost of implementation: Low

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha: $1,000-5,000

3. O&M costs: Low

4. Expert support: Needed at implementation stage

1. Cost of implementation: High

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

Project title: Responding to climate change risks for dekhan farming system of Turkmenistan on national and local levels.

Project duration: 2012-2016. 

Project goal and objectives: build the adaptation capacity to respond to climate change impacts, including variability on local and national levels. 

Project beneficiaries: Bori Settlement (over 1,100 people) and Bo-Kurdak Settlement (about 4,500 people).

Project implementer: Ministry of Nature Conservation and UNDP

Project title: Management of irrigation and drainage systems for sustainable productivity growth in the Fergana Valley of Central Asia.

Project duration: Aug 2014-Dec 2015.

Project goals: improve irrigation and drainage systems and enhance the efficiency of crops watering.

Project objectives: manage GWL by way of controlling CHD with the aim of increasing crops water supply, enhance irrigation efficiency and decrease the amount of drainage and pollutants discharge; assess the influence of water supply and CHD regulation on soil humidity and drainage discharge; assess the difference of drainage and drainage water quality between controlled (managed) and conventional drainage models.

Project beneficiaries: target farm.

Project implementer: ICWC SIC.

tm.undp.org

Dukhovny, V., Kenjabaev, Sh., Yakubov, Sh., Umirzakov, G., 2017. Controlled sub-surface drainage as a strategy for improved water management in irrigated agriculture of Uzbekistan.  Transactions of the 13th International Drainage Workshop of ICID “Drainage and environmental sustainability”, Ahwaz, Iran, March 4-7, 2017.

Collection of research works by ICWC SIC, 15^th Issue, Tashkent City, pp. 109-114.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC