Comparison of practices

Use of water resources

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Province: Osh Region

District: Kara-Suu District

Country: Tajikistan

Province: Districts of Republican Subordination

District: Rudaki

Other settlement: Khosilot Farm

Akbura River Basin

• Ground water occurrence below 5 meters;
• Typical gray soil, surface slope – 0.04.

Start date: 01.01.2007

End date: 31.12.2017

Start date: 01.01.2013

End date: 31.12.2015

Low level of coordination among WUAs – as a rule, each WUA liaises independently with its water management organization (WMO).

Low efficiency of furrow irrigation; deficit of irrigation water; poor alfaalfa yields; eroded soil; low income of farmers.

Methods of integration and social mobilization

Sprinkling irrigation system for alfaalfa

The AAMC-WUU is an association of legal entities in the form of Union – a voluntary independent non-profit public organization uniting legal entities (i.e. WUAs) based on common interests with the aim of coordinating actions and protecting shared interests and rights.  AAMC-WUU operates as per the Charter approved at the general meeting of water user representatives, has its own stamp and bank account.

Actions:

The creation of AAMC-WUU began with the establishment of the Initiative Group (IG).  The IG consisted of active water specialists, representatives of water users and other stakeholders who saw the need to transit to IWRM.  Further on, the IG carried out social mobilization, drafted necessary documents (the Union’s Charter, etc.), organized the general meeting of water users that approved the Charter and established the Union’s Council (Board).  After that, AAMC-WUU underwent legal registration and officially launched its work.

Results:

• AAMC-WUU established, legally registered and has been operating until present time;
• AAMC-WUU contributed to the following:
  - enhanced stability and uniformity of water supply to WUAs via state WMO;
  - better collection of water supply service fees paid by WUAs to state WMO.
• Representing the interests of water users as a member of the RMC Water Committee, AAMC-WUU also contributed to decreasing conflicts between WUAs and WMO.

Actions:

• Project design and budgeting, procurement of sprinkling nozzles;
• Installation of sprinkling irrigation system, alfaalfa planting and cultivation, crop care.

Results:

Financial and economic:

increased farmer incomes due to better alfaalfa hay yields; enhanced labor productivity; reduced production costs.

Ecological:

improved ecological and reclamation condition of irrigated land; production of ecologically clean goods; significantly reduced unproductive water losses and soil erosion.

Technical:

increased alfaalfa hay yields (29 t/ha) compared to furrow irrigation (on average 18 t/ha); 40% saving of irrigation water.

Social:

increased wellbeing of local residents due to better agricultural yields; reduced hard manual labor.

Lessons learnt:

The effectiveness of AAMC-WUU depends on internal and external conditions: capacities (financial, institutional, etc.) of its members (i.e. WUAs) and the level of democracy and market development in a given country.  In turn, the growth of capacities of AAMC-WUU members depends on AAMC-WUU performance.

Recommendation:

Currently, WUAs capacities are rather poor which is reflected in AAMC-WUA own underperformance.  Considering that WUA represent the weakest link in water hierarchy and the role of water users in addressing national food, water and environmental security needs, the government should find opportunities to support (first of all, financially) WUAs/AAMC-WUU during transition period (until they become self-sufficient).

Lessons learnt:

Deployment of sprinkling irrigation systems allows increasing alfaalfa productivity and water saving as well enhancing soil reclamation condition and structure, watering efficiency, etc.

Recommendations:

It is necessary to widely introduce sprinkling irrigation to enhance the efficiency of water and land resources, reduce manual labor costs and save irrigation water.

Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

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: $3,000/ha

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Needed at implementation stage

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.

Project title: Sprinkling irrigation of alfaalfa in the conditions of Central Tajikistan.

Project duration: 2013-2015.

Project goal and objectives: deployment of sprinkling irrigation for alfaalfa; observance of optimal irrigation mode(s) and techniques ensuring 30 t/ha alfaalfa hay yield with minimal energy consumption in the conditions of Central Tajikistan.

Project beneficiaries: farmers of Khosilot Farm.

Project implementer: GU “TajikNIIGiM”.

Guidelines on IWRM streamlining, Volume 1 (Institutional Aspects), Tashkent 2011.

Research report by GU “TajikNIIGiM”, Dushanbe, 2015, 24 p.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC