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Image: JIRCAS
Accumulation of salt on a wheat field in Oq-oltin District, Syrdarya Province, Uzbekistan (December 2010)
Salinity mitigation in Uzbekistan
The river basins of Amu-darya and Syr-darya flowing into
the Aral Sea in Central Asia have been developed through
the large-scale irrigation projects implemented there since
the middle of the twentieth century. Agricultural produc-
tivity has increased with those developments. In Central
Asia, Uzbekistan has the largest irrigated land area, cover-
ing more than 4.2 million hectares. The expansion of
irrigated agriculture, which was focused on cotton, wheat
and paddy rice, required large amounts of water; and the
dissolved salts in the irrigation water have accumulated on
the ground surface. The development of farming systems
has therefore unwittingly caused the advancement of salini-
zation. Excessive irrigation, leakage from decrepit irrigation
canals, and malfunctioning drainage systems have driven
up the groundwater level over the past decades. This rising
groundwater increases the probability of salts moving up
towards the surface through capillary action.
In parallel with farming system development, the
Uzbekistan Government has dedicated efforts and resources
to improve irrigated land conditions. A number of salin-
ity mitigation measures have been implemented, such as
repairing irrigation canals, cleaning drainage and leading
farmers in leaching activity to wash out the accumulated
salts from the fields, but they have been less effective in
some areas so that almost half of Uzbekistan’s land area
is still affected by salinization. In 2008, the Government
High groundwater level (70 cm from surface) was observed in Oq-oltin
District, Syrdarya Province, Uzbekistan, on 21 March 2010
Image: JIRCAS
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