Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Use of water resources

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: Almaty region

District: Alakol District

Other settlement: Yntaly Rural District (320 km away from Taldykorgan (region center))

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Province: Osh Region

District: Kara-Suu District

Other settlement: WUAs in proximity of the Aravan-Akbura Main Canal

Foothill area

Akbura River Basin

Shallow groundwater occurrence

Start date: 01.01.2008

End date: 31.12.2010

Start date: 01.01.2003

End date: 31.12.2011

After disintegration of large agricultural enterprises (state farms), the maintenance of inter- and intra-farm irrigation systems – that were earlier on the balance of state farms – appeared to exceed the technical capacity of small-scale private and owner-operated farms.  Due to this reason, in the majority of agricultural districts the tray irrigation networks got out of order.  The wear of the lion’s share of hydraulic engineering facilities in Alakol District reached nearly 70% leading to water losses associated with crops watering – the analysis showed that 40% of water was lost to filtration and evaporation.  In its turn, that resulted in ineffective and irrational use of water resources and contraction of irrigated land area.  For example, whereas in 2003 water intake for irrigation amounted to 195 mln m³, in 2009 it decreased to 114.8 mln m³ (41.1% drop).

Issue: Low efficiency of irrigation water due to wear of hydraulic engineering facilities/installations (tray irrigation system).

• Uneven distribution of water to consumers (head-end issue),
• Unstable water supply to consumers,
• Significant organizational water losses

Drip irrigation in combination with soil mulching with polyethylene film

Principles of water rotation and public participation

Drip irrigation combined with filming has been widely adopted around the world in vegetable and cucurbits cultivation.  Thanks to long moisture preservation and proper thermal balance achieved under film, deployment of this technology allows reducing the overall need for irrigation water and receiving earlier and higher crop yields.

Actions:

The K-DEN Farm was offered to apply drip irrigation through film cover on the area of 5 hectares in Yntaly Rural District.  The technique was adapted for project site by Doctor of Engineering R.I. Vagapov. The recommended technology is the most available to local farmers and ensures significant saving of irrigation water.

Necessary resources:

1) seeds of vegetable and cucurbit crops;

2) polyethylene film;

3) equipment (DT-75 tractor, seeder, cultivator);

4) labor for preparatory works, sowing and harvest campaigns;

5) expert consultations and training.

Results:

Financial and economic:

The yield of vegetable and cucurbit crops increased twofold compared to two previous years allowing the farm to receive the profit of $12,000/ha in spite of the fact that the whole yield was sold at low price to the local population of Eastern Kazakhstan and Almaty Regions.  In particular, the productivity of vegetable crops amounted to 350-400 dt/ha, and cucurbits – 400 dt/ha.

Technical:

Water saving made 220,040 m³.

Uniform and fair water distribution among water consumers (WCs) inside WUAs, clear alignment and coordination of water supply schedules via internal WUA networks of all levels with water supply schedules to WUA derivation canals from main canals is ensured by enhancing existing water distribution planning techniques based on water rotation (recirculation) and volumes of technically deliverable water executed via decade planning (within vegetation period decades).

Actions:

In accordance with the approved decade-based water distribution scheduled plan, decade water quantity is supplied to WCs in turns as per their water requests.  The schedules can be quickly adjusted depending on water availability in concerned water bodies.  The technique is based on wide engagement of WCs in distribution procedures – not only WUA personnel but also WCs themselves know who is receiving water, when and how much of it and, thus, can monitor each other and assess each other’s operations.  This promotes better mutual water discipline among WCs.  The process can be controlled from beginning to end based on corresponding documents (decade water distribution schedules, water request from WCs and WUAs, water request registration logs, water accounting logs at WUA headworks and WUA derivation canals.

Results:

As the result of introducing the decade-based water distribution plan in 2009-2011:

• actual water intake decreased, despite the fact that water supply to WCs remained high due to the increased efficiency of water distribution inside WUAs (90% of water availability) and ensured high yields;
• irrigation network efficiency rate rose from 0.69 to 0.79. The volume of water saved due to reduced losses along WUA irrigation lines made 8% of the total actual water intake;
• increased net incomes due to yield growth thanks to better water supply of key agricultural crops;
• drastic drop in the number of disputes and conflicts associated with not only water use but also financial, economic and institutional stability of WUAs;
• instead of mineralized collector and water, WCs located in the end sections of WUA networks started to get water safe for their crops.

Lessons learnt:

The practice of drip irrigation in combination with the application of polyethylene film has increased the efficiency of water use and crops productivity as well as reduced labor needs.

Recommendations:

The widespread deployment of water-saving technologies requires the presence of effective financial incentives for at water consumers.

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

Lessons learnt:

Thanks to proper water use management inside WUAs, water intake in the upper sections of main canals and rivers decreased by 50-80% and, thus, the unproductive discharge to collectors and depressions reduced also.  Reduced water intake in the head sections of main canals and rivers led to the increased influx of high-quality irrigation water in their end sections resulting in better observance of environmental requirements aimed at preserving wild flora and fauna.

Recommendation:

Country-wide scaling-up of the practice of decade-based water distribution planning inside WUAs is necessary and possible.

The practice is the result of streamlining:

• traditional tools transferred from generation to generation which demonstrate their relevance in modern conditions,
• research works

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: Integrated preservation of globally significant wetlands as dwelling places of migrating birds.

Project duration: May 2008-Sept 2010.

Project goal and objectives: assessment of agro-economic and environmental efficiency of technology of sprinkling irrigation on vegetable crops; establishment of optimum watering regimes for vegetable crops based on mist sprinkling irrigation.

Project beneficiaries: peasants (farmers) and agricultural producers.

Project implementer: K-DEN Farm

Project title: Integrated Water Resources Management in the Fergana Valley (IWRM-Fergana).

Project duration: Jan 01, 2001-Dec 31, 2012 (12 years).

Project goal and objectives: overall project goal was “to contribute to safer living, environmental sustainability and wide social harmony, to support rural restructuring in Central Asian countries by enhancing water resources management based on the example of the Ferghana Valley”.

Project beneficiaries: WUAs, farmers in project sites.

Project implementer: IWMI, SIC of the ICWC, Project Steering Committee (PSC) consisting of 3 representatives of the Ministries of Rural and Water Management (MRWM) of project target countries, 3 heads of Regional Water Administrations hosting project target sites.

K-DEN Farm,

Mr. Afrikan Konstantinovich Kim, farm head

(ph.: +7 701 227 27 49, +7 701 672 85 85)

• Guidelines on designing and adjusting water distribution plan on WUA level based on daily planning;
• Guidelines on irrigation water distribution on WUA level;
• Handbook on water use monitoring on WUA level.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC