Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In the assembly hall of the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, an official ceremony of awarding the winners of the contest "Effective use of water when watering plants in a backyard" was held. The contest was held among women in rural areas.

The competition was announced by the Ministry of Water Resources, together with the National Water Resources Management Project (NWRM), in June this year. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), whose cooperation strategy in Central Asia for 2017-2021 emphasizes the importance of gender equality, therefore the project, in its activities, seeks to consider and take into account gender issues as much as possible.

The competition was part of a campaign to raise awareness among the general public, especially rural women, about the efficiency of water use in irrigating crops, and to increase the number of TOMCHI social media users by involving rural women.

The contestants were offered to download the TOMCHI mobile application; subscribe to the TOMCHI Telegram channel; and also send a photo or video with a brief description of the water saving method used, implemented on the personal plot. Over a hundred women from different parts of the country responded to this proposal and became participants in the competition. The competition showed how resourceful our women are. For the prudent use of water, all available means are used - these are ordinary hoses with holes made in them for drip irrigation, this is cellophane covered in grooves, these are medical transfusion systems that drop water into the plant in droplets. And in what form ordinary plastic water bottles are not used!

To evaluate the materials sent to the competition, an independent jury was created, consisting of specialists in the field of water-saving technologies, representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and partner organizations.

The official awards ceremony was timed to coincide with the International Day of Rural Women, which is celebrated annually on 15 October. This day is intended to remind the society how much it owes to rural women, how valuable their work is.

The organizers have created a festive atmosphere. The event was attended not only by the winners who were able to come to Tashkent for such a memorable event. Hundreds of women farmers and water workers of the country were connected online and were also able to become a part of this holiday.

Women farmers reiterated that they can be as productive and entrepreneurial as men, and need to be ensured that they can count on full access to land, credit, agricultural resources, markets and agricultural product networks.