Land Degredation in Central Asia

 The degradation of land and other natural resources contributing to agricultural production, is a serious socioeconomic and environmental problem in Central Asia. It adversely affects, among other things, food production and biodiversity. Decades of poorly managed irrigated agriculture has done considerable damage to vast areas of land in Central Asia. Scientists point out a few major types of land degradation in the region. Water and wind erosion, often linked to poor agricultural practices, plays a big role. In Uzbekistan, some 800,000 ha of the irrigated croplands are estimated to be subject to serious soil erosion. And more than 50 per cent of the farmlands are estimated to suffer from serious wind erosion. These factors contribute to soil fertility decline. Another problem is waterlogging, which is closely linked with salinisation. Both are caused by inappropriate irrigation. Recent estimates suggest that between 40 and 60 per cent of the irrigated croplands in Central Asia are salt-affected and/or waterlogged. This consequently leads to decreased plant growth and yields. Overgrazing of livestock also puts considerable pressure on rangelands, the predominant landscape in Central Asia.

Source:CGIAR_CAC

Rural Machinery Factory - Alexandar Volkov

Rural Machinery Factory (1930), A. Volkov (1884-1957)

Savitsky Art Museum, Nukus, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan

 Alexander Nikolaevich Volkov was an avant-garde Russian painter and poet. Born: 31 August 1886, Fergana Died: 17 December 1957, Tashkent Education: Imperial Academy of Arts Award: People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR Source: Alexander_Nikolaevich_Volkov

 

IBRD to assist Uzbekistan strengthen Water Resource Management in South Karakalpakstan

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (part of the World Bank) will allocate a loan worth $260.72 million to improve water resource management in South Karakalpakstan.

The loan used to fund a project to rehabilitate existing irrigation networks and improve water management practices to make them sustainable and financially effective. In addition its aims to eliminate the current dependence of farmers in South Karakalpakstan on energy-inefficient pumping by developing a gravity off-take from the Tuyamuyun reservoir and dismantling pumping stations.

The aim is to improve water resources management and irrigation management in South Karakalpakstan by making it more effective and thus increase the areas areas agricultural productivity and ability to resist the effects of climate change. Further to strengthen existing institutions and capacities, and improve performance of public irrigation and drainage service delivery and the promoting crop diversification away from cotton and towards higher value crops.

The South Karakalpakstan Water Resource Management Improvement Project area is located less than 100 km from the city of Nukus in the north, the capital of Karakalpakstan, and about 20 km from the city of Urgench in the west, the capital of Khorezm Oblast. Almost the entire drainage system of the South Karakalpakstan Right Bank system has been already been successfully rehabilitated at a cost to date of some US$ 60 million equivalent.
The newly constructed main drain and the rehabilitated on-farm and inter-farm drainage system are to be improved.

The project should save some 10 million cubic meters of water resources annually (reducing the cost of mechanical watering savings $2.39 million a year) by eliminating farmers need to use energy intensive pumps to lift water from the Amu Darya River.