Report Mapping marginal lands in the Khorezm province (Aral Sea basin), prone to soil degradation Prepared by: Hayot Ibrakhimov, Inna Rudenko, Murod Sultonov, Alexander Lee, Davran Niyazmetov, Sodiqov Mansur, Ruzmetov Bahodir Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 2. Identification and description of agricultural land in the Khorezm province using GIS and remote sensing ............... 6 2.1 Description of the Khorezm province .................................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 Irrigation and drainage infrastructure in the Khorezm province ...................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Tuyamuyun reservoir ............................................................................................................................................. 12 2.2.2 Irrigation and drainage systems ............................................................................................................................ 14 2.2.3 Legal water management bodies ............................................................................................................................ 17 2.2.4 Water withdrawal and distribution in Khorezm at a regional level ....................................................................... 18 2.2.5 Design discharge of canals in different irrigation systems .................................................................................... 20 2.2.6 Irrigation network efficiency of the selected primary canals ................................................................................. 20 2.2.7 Lift irrigation schemes in the region ...................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.8 Drainage system in the Khorezm province............................................................................................................. 22 2.2.9 Evolution of drainage system in the region ............................................................................................................ 24 3. GIS / RS analysis of the current state of productive and marginal irrigated lands in the Khorezm province ........ 25 3.1 Degraded marginal land in the Khorezm province ........................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Soil properties ................................................................................................................................................................... 26 3.3 Texture and Soil Horizons ................................................................................................................................................. 27 3.4 Soil Organic Matter ........................................................................................................................................................... 31 3.5 Soil NPK ............................................................................................................................................................................ 32 3.6 Soil Microbiological Activity ............................................................................................................................................. 33 3.7 Soil Fauna Density and Diversity ...................................................................................................................................... 35 3.8 Soil quality assessment (Bonitet) ....................................................................................................................................... 36 3.9 Soil Salinity and C Stock ................................................................................................................................................... 40 3.10 Strategies of salinity management ................................................................................................................................... 43 3.10.1 Efficiency of current soil salinity management strategies ................................................................................. 43 3.10.2 Groundwater levels and salinity ........................................................................................................................ 45 3.11 Distance to agricultural fields ......................................................................................................................................... 47 3.12 Identification of agricultural marginal land in the Khorezm province ............................................................................ 50 4. Socio-economic survey of households in the selected districts ....................................................................................... 50 4.1 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................................... 51 4.1.1 Data collection ........................................................................................................................................................... 51 4.1.2 Data arrangement and data processing ..................................................................................................................... 52 4.1.3 Description of findings ............................................................................................................................................... 52 4.2 Key findings of socio-economic survey .............................................................................................................................. 52 4.2.1 General information about surveyed households ....................................................................................................... 52 Households’ family size .................................................................................................................................................. 53 Educational level of household members ....................................................................................................................... 53 Occupation of household members ................................................................................................................................. 54 Involvement of household members in agricultural production ..................................................................................... 55 4.2.2 Land resources ........................................................................................................................................................... 55 4.2.3 Agricultural production .............................................................................................................................................. 61 4.2.4 Livestock ..................................................................................................................................................................... 63 Households with livestock and livestock availability ..................................................................................................... 63 Sources of fodder for domestic animals .......................................................................................................................... 63 Reason for keeping livestock .......................................................................................................................................... 64 4.2.5 Access to fodder ......................................................................................................................................................... 65 4.2.6 Households’ energy sources for heating and cooking ................................................................................................ 66 Available energy sources ................................................................................................................................................ 66 Primary sources of energy separately for cooking and heating ...................................................................................... 67 Where does energy come from and how much does it cost ............................................................................................ 67 Access to energy resources ............................................................................................................................................. 68 4.2.7 Crop cultivation ......................................................................................................................................................... 69 Cultivated crops .............................................................................................................................................................. 69 Reason for crops cultivation, harvests, satisfaction with harvests .................................................................................. 70 Crops for sale, purchased crops ...................................................................................................................................... 71 4.2.8 Households’ property and food stocks ....................................................................................................................... 72 4.2.9 Households expenditure