Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

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

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: Jambyl Region

District: Talas District

Other settlement: Village of Sadu Shakirov

Country: Uzbekistan

Province: Fergana Region

District: Kuva District

Other settlement: Khamroli-Ota Farm

The site is located in the desert foothill plain in South-ern Kazakhstan (internal drain area) at the very end of Sharuashlyk Irrigation Canal.

The site is located in the zone of ground water shallow occurrence

Start date: 01.05.2008

End date: 30.04.2009

Start date: 01.01.2010

End date: 31.12.2012

Acute water shortage; land degradation in the village of Sadu Shakirov; abandoned irrigated arable lands used only for year-round cattle grazing.

For a long time, the irrigation canal was not operation-al and, thus, became dilapidated. The situation in the area was aggravated by climate change impacts (de-creased quantity of early spring, summer and winter precipitation, increased average annual temperature, spring and autumn frost bites and summer droughts).

Flooding of settlements; salination of irrigated land

Method of autumn and winter water-charging irrigation

GIS-technologies and remote-sensing tools

Actions:
1) Reconstruction of the canal, stop-gates and field irrigation networks (rehabilitation of irrigation furrows),
2) Setting up artificial pastures with forage crops

Results:

Financial and economic:
Using water-charging irrigation for rangelands allowed increasing their productivity from 3.5 to 5 dt/ha and receiving 60 tons of herbage for cattle and sheep and goats from non-cultivated land.

Technical:
1) 12 km of the canal and 5 stop-gates to regulate water releases restored,
2) 5 km of irrigation furrows built,
3) Cultivated pastures with forage crops created (soil preparation, alfaalfa planting, coordination of irrigation norms),
4) Fields are prepared during the summer-fall period, and watered during late fall or early spring.

In 1980, specialists of NPO SANIIRI (Research and Development Association “Central Asian Research Institute of Irrigation”) designed and for the first time applied this type of drainage in the Qarshi Steppe where it demonstrated its efficiency.  The project was suspended due to lack of funding.  The re-launch of the project and installment of a combined drainage system in Kuva District (2010) once again confirmed its high efficiency and profitability, especially in areas of confined underground waters.  Further on, the model was applied in Rishtan, Altyarik and Baghdad Districts where it is successfully working.

Actions:

1. reconstruction of the open collector;
2. construction of the combined drainage system;
3. operation of the combined drainage system;
4. consultations with local experts on designing and constructing combined drainage systems;
5. holding a training for Basin Irrigation System Administration (BISA) and Reclamation Expedition (RE) personnel on combined drainage system operation;
6. development and distribution of training materials.

Results:

Financial and economic:

Specific construction costs (sum/ha) of the combined drainage system were twice less compared to horizontal drainage models.  Vertical drainage of 1 hectare of land requires 700-800 kWh of energy, whereas the combined drainage is hyperpiestic.  Maintenance costs for combined drainage systems are also much lower compared to horizontal and vertical drainage models – specifically, twofold less than for closed horizontal and threefold less for vertical. The combined drainage systems also allowed increasing crops productivity.

Technical:

The reclamation condition of farm land has improved.

Lessons learnt:
Application of water-charging irrigation allowed in-creasing water availability and, as the result, productivity of agricultural crops.

Application of water-charging irrigation demonstrated the efficiency of water use and allowed local popula-tion to go through winter without losing livestock.

Recommendations:
The method can be used in areas/communities where along with crop growing the population is also involved in livestock breeding.

Lessons learnt:

The practice has confirmed its high efficiency and profitability of combined-type drainage, especially in areas with confined underground water.

Recommendations:

It is necessary to widely apply combined-type drainage where hydro-geological conditions allow it.

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

R&D product by NPO SANIIRI (Research and Development Association “Central Asian Research Institute of Irrigation”)

1. Cost of implementation: High

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

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: Fall and early spring Irrigation of arable land and pastures as an adaptation mechanism of ra-tional water use in Southern Kazakhstan

Duration: May 1, 2008 – April 30, 2009

Project goal and objectives: reduce land degradation due to climate change by way of rational use of irriga-tion water. The project was implemented to prevent loss of cattle due to forage shortage during alternating droughty years.

Project beneficiaries: local population.

Project implementer: Kogal LLC

Project title: Application of GIS-technologies for reclamation.

Project duration: Jan 2010-Dec 2012 (3 years).

Project goal and objectives: comprehensive support of Reclamation Expedition (RE) specialists; introduction of new technologies; enhancing RE technical capacities to ensure a more expedient implementation of projects to improve the reclamation condition of irrigated land with the aim of receiving better agricultural yields with the simultaneous maintenance of environmental equilibrium in the area.

Project beneficiaries: Fergana Region and Syr Daria Region Reclamation Expeditions.

Project implementer: Management Department of the Foundation for Reclamation Improvement of Irrigated Land.

1) UNDP Compilation “Climate change adaptation: ex-amples from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan”, Tashkent 2012;
2) pandia.org

Ekologicheski Vestnik (Environmental Digest) Journal,

Issue 11, 2012 (http://lrf.uz/?p=283&lang=ru).

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC