Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In water-scarce southern Uzbekistan, a recent major infrastructure project has improved agricultural irrigation by limiting losses, as well as reducing electricity consumption and increasing crop yields. It was reported by Euronews.

Uzbekistan is modernizing the regional irrigation system to improve water supply to the agricultural sector. In South Karakalpakstan, electric pumps are no longer needed for irrigating fields; from now on, water flows by gravity. A recent major infrastructure project is also drastically reducing the loss of one of the most important resources - water.

“There are barkhans and sands all around, 50 percent of the water went into the soil,” says project manager Azat Serzhanov. “So we decided to concrete the canal.”

Concrete channel to reduce water loss

The Bustan Canal is the main water artery. Before reconstruction, it was in an earthen channel, a huge amount of water was lost, seeping into the soil. Water enters it through the Right Bank Canal from the Tuyamuyun reservoir, which is located on the territory of neighboring Turkmenistan.

The Bustan canal is connected to a network of secondary canals - their total length is more than 800 km. All of them have been reconstructed as part of a project that covers 3 regions and 100,000 hectares of agricultural land.

Shavkat Khamraev, Minister of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan: “Here we felt an acute shortage of water resources. 35,000 hectares of irrigated land were put out of circulation. million cubic meters of water and return these lands to circulation."

In order to negate losses from water filtration, the Bustan canal, 70 kilometers long, was lined with concrete, which was laid on a special material - a geomembrane.

“The geomembrane is made of high-density polyethylene, its thickness is 1 mm, it is a 100% waterproof layer,” explains project engineer Bakhodir Kulumbetov. “It is used in hydraulic engineering works as a waterproofing layer under canals, thanks to which we save water.”

Rejection of electric pumps

Previously, water was supplied to the fields with the help of pumping stations - large state and small farm units. As part of the project, the bottom of the Bustan canal was raised above the level of secondary canals and irrigated fields. And now, due to the law of gravity, the water flows by itself. By gravity. This will allow the state and farmers to save about 3 million dollars annually on electricity.

Shavkat Khamraev, Minister of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan: "We are removing more than 400 farm pumps, as well as 20 small and 3 large pumping stations, which are operated at the expense of the state budget. Thus, we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, CO2, reduce 36 thousand cubic .m of gas".

Increasing crop yields

We went to a fruit farm in Ellikkala region to see how the new water supply system works. Farmer Muzafar Saparbayev only needs to open these gates to direct water into the garden. There are 1600 such outlets installed on the secondary canals of South Karakalpakstan.

Muzafar said that his farm has saved about 6,000 euros on electricity in a year, and explained the benefits of the project: “As part of the project, the land on our farm was leveled using a laser, which allowed us to increase productivity, so our income is growing. The speed of the water flow has increased significantly comparing with the previous year".

Job security

Leveling the soil improves yields and saves water that would otherwise be wasted in uneven fields. This is one more element of the large-scale Project on "Improvement of Water Resources Management in South Karakalpakstan".

The project also aims to improve the productivity and sustainability of agriculture in this water scarce region near the Aral Sea. The total cost of the project, implemented by the government of Uzbekistan with the support of the World Bank, is US$374 million.

Azad Abdulkhamid, Leading Water Resources Management Specialist, World Bank Country Office in Uzbekistan: “The project has provided jobs for more than 38,000 people who are directly employed in irrigated agriculture. At the same time, there are many related jobs. Employment, climate adaptation, efficient the use of water - all of this is extremely important and is within the framework of the strategy of the government and the World Bank."

The state’s strategy is to modernize water management throughout the country, which will make agriculture, one of the key areas of employment in Uzbekistan, more environmentally friendly and sustainable in the face of climate change.