Issues of widespread use of drip irrigation technologies discussed

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 27 September 2019, an open lesson on the topic “Problems of widespread use of drip irrigation technologies and their solution” was held at the Tashkent Institute of Agricultural Irrigation and Land Reclamation Engineers.

The event was organized by the Senate Committee of the Oliy Majlis on agrarian, water management and ecology in conjunction with the Ministry of Water Resources in order to improve the skills of irrigation specialists.

It was attended by teachers and students of the institute, specialists of the irrigation sector, as well as representatives of the media.

It was noted that today about 20% of the water used in the country is formed on the territory of the republic, the remaining 80% comes from transboundary rivers - the Amudarya and Syrdarya. In the country, on average, 44-48 billion m3 of water is used per year, the bulk of water resources or over 85% is used in agriculture for irrigation purposes.

Specialists noted that at present, 3 billion 200 thousand hectares of land consumed 46 billion m3 of water. Only 60% of life-giving water reaches crops. Because 23% of irrigation networks with a total length of 180 thousand km are covered with concrete, which has not been updated in the last 30-35 years. And this requires the effective use of water, the introduction of resource-saving irrigation technologies, especially drip, rain irrigation, water supply to the soil using a plastic film and portable plastic pipes.

For these purposes, a number of regulatory legal acts have been adopted in our country aimed at supporting and encouraging dekhkan and farm enterprises that have introduced conservation technologies in the cultivation of crops.

In particular, in accordance with the decrees of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On urgent measures to create favorable conditions for the widespread use of drip irrigation technology in the production of raw cotton”, “On measures for the further development of horticulture and greenhouse farming in the Republic of Uzbekistan”, “On the organization of activities Agency for the development of viticulture and winemaking under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan "for the introduction of drip irrigation technology in the sown areas allocated a grant of 8 million. soums per hectare.

Along with this, in accordance with Article 367 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, part of the land using drip irrigation is exempted from the payment of a single land tax for a period of 5 years. The adoption of these or other legal acts is the main factor in the development of this area.

However, due to the fact that the integrated and rational use of water resources, their management and protection, as well as the water supply service to dekhkans and farmers are carried out at the state’s expense, and therefore the responsibility of farms to save water remains low. In particular, to date, resource-saving irrigation technologies have been implemented on only 328 thousand hectares of irrigated land or 7% of the total sown area. Although the most optimal way of irrigation in agriculture is drip irrigation technology. Its advantage is that you can save 40-50% of the water used in the traditional method, labor and resource costs are reduced by 30%. In addition, this method provides a reduction in fertilizer costs by 37%, and productivity increases by 15-20 centners. Soil erosion, the level of increase in groundwater and salinization are also reduced.

In this context, during the event, issues of introducing advanced technologies in the agricultural sector were discussed in detail, practical recommendations were given on their use.

At the end of the event, participants received detailed answers from specialists to questions they were interested in.