9 Irrigation in Central Asia in figures AQUASTAT Survey-2012 Cover picture: © FAO Mediabase: Sergey Kozmin Internal picture: © FAO Mediabase: Sean Gallagher, Danfung Dennis, Giulio Napolitano Copies of FAO publications can be requested from: SALES AND MARKETING GROUP Information Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, Italy E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (+39) 06 57053360 Web site: http://www.fao.org FAO WATER Irrigation in Central Asia REPORTS in figures AQUASTAT Survey – 2012 39 Edited by Karen FRENKEN FAO Land and Water Division FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2013 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 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All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence- request or addressed to [email protected]. iii Contents Acknowledgements ix Units x List of abbreviations xi Section I – Presentation of the survey 1 Introduction 3 Country and river basin profiles 7 Country profiles 7 River basin profiles 7 Data collection, processing and reliability 9 Glossary of terms 11 Section II – Regional analysis 23 Geography, climate and population 25 Economy, agriculture and food security 31 Water resources 33 Renewable water resources (primary freshwater) 33 Other sources of water 36 Dams 36 Transboundary waters 38 Water withdrawal 41 Water withdrawal by sector 41 Water withdrawal by source 43 The Millennium Development goals – the water indicator 45 Evaporation losses from artificial reservoirs 45 Irrigation 47 Irrigation potential 47 Irrigation areas 47 Full control irrigation techniques 48 Origin of water in full control irrigation 52 Full control irrigation scheme sizes 53 Level of use of areas equipped for full control irrigation 53 Cropping intensity in full control irrigation schemes 54 Irrigated crops in full control irrigation schemes 54 iv Trends 57 Trend in water withdrawal by sector 57 Trend in water withdrawal by source 58 Trend in areas under irrigation 58 Trend in full control irrigation techniques 58 Trend in origin of water for full control irrigation 60 Trend in irrigated crops in full control irrigation schemes 61 Use rate of areas equipped for irrigation 61 Legislative and institutional framework for water management 63 Environment and health 67 Water quality 67 Irrigation-induced salinization and waterlogging 68 Drainage in irrigation areas 69 Floods and droughts 71 Health and water-related diseases 72 Climate change 72 The Aral Sea crisis 73 Prospects for agricultural water management 75 Main sources of information 79 Section III – Country and river basins profiles 83 Afghanistan 85 Geography, climate and population 85 Economy, agriculture and food security 87 Water resources and use 88 Irrigation and drainage development 94 Water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture 100 Environment and health 103 Prospects for agricultural water management 104 Main sources of information 104 Kazakhstan 107 Geography, climate and population 107 Economy, agriculture and food security 110 Water resources and use 110 Irrigation and drainage development 117 Water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture 122 Environment and health 125 Prospects for agricultural water management 126 Main sources of information 127 v Kyrgyzstan 129 Geography, climate and population 129 Economy, agriculture and food security 131 Water resources and use 132 Irrigation and drainage development 137 Water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture 141 Environment and health 144 Prospects for agricultural water management 145 Main sources of information 145 Tajikistan 147 Geography, climate and population 147 Economy, agriculture and food security 149 Water resources and use 150 Irrigation and drainage development 154 Water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture 158 Environment and health 160 Prospects for agricultural water management 161 Main sources of information 162 Turkmenistan 163 Geography, climate and population 163 Economy, agriculture and food security 165 Water resources and use 166 Irrigation and drainage development 171 Water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture 176 Environment and health 178 Prospects for agricultural water management 179 Main sources of information 180 Uzbekistan 183 Geography, climate and population 183 Economy, agriculture and food security 185 Water resources and use 186 Irrigation and drainage development 192 Water management, policies and legislation related to water use in agriculture 198 Environment and health 202 Prospects for agricultural water management 203 Main sources of information 204 vi The Aral Sea transboundary river basin 207 Geography, climate and population 207 Water resources 210 Water-related developments in the basin 214 Environment, water quality and health 220 Transboundary water issues 221 Main sources of information 227 vii List of figures in Section I and II 1. Regional division of the world adopted by AQUASTAT 5 2. Distribution of areas and population 26 3. Average annual precipitation 27 4. Population density 29 5. Distribution of area and water resources 34 6. Internal renewable water resources 35 7. Total renewable water resources per inhabitant 37 8. Transboundary river basins 39 9. Annual water withdrawal per inhabitant 42 10. Annual fresh water withdrawal as a percentage of total actual renewable water resources: Millennium Development Goal Water Indicator 46 11. Area equipped for irrigation 49 12. Area equipped for irrigation as percentage of country area 50 13. Area equipped for irrigation as percentage of cultivated area 51 viii List of tables in Section II 1. Land use by country and by population 25 2. Population characteristics 28 3. Access to improved water sources 30 4. Long-term average annual renewable water resources 34 5. Countries with internal renewable water resources (IRWR) of less than 1 700 m3/inhabitant per year 36 6. Produced, treated and directly used municipal wastewater 36 7. Dams in Central Asia 36 8. Dams with a reservoir capacity larger than 1 km3 38 9. Water withdrawal by sector 41 10. Water withdrawal by source of water and MDG water indicator 44 11. Areas under irrigation 47 12. Irrigation techniques in areas equipped for full control irrigation 52 13. Origin of water used in full control irrigation (primary and secondary water) 52 14. Scheme sizes in areas equipped for full control irrigation 53 15. Cropping intensity on actually irrigated areas 54 16A. Harvested irrigated crops on areas equipped for full control irrigation actually irrigated (in hectares) 55 16B. Harvested irrigated crops on areas equipped for full control irrigation actually irrigated (in percentages) 56 17. Trend in water withdrawal by sector 57 18. Trend in primary and secondary water withdrawal 58 19. Trend in the areas under irrigation 59 20. Trend in full control irrigation techniques 59 21. Trend in the origin of water used in full control irrigation 60 22. Trend in harvested irrigated crop areas by different types of crops 61 23. Salinization in irrigation areas 68 24. Drainage in irrigation areas 70 25. Central Asia compared to the world 78 ix Acknowledgements This report was prepared by Karen Frenken, AQUASTAT Programme Coordinator and Senior Water Resources Management Officer, with the assistance of Cecilia Spottorno, AQUASTAT consultant, both from the Land and Water Division of FAO. The following national resource persons contributed to the data collection and the preparation of the country profiles: Murat Bekniyazov (Kazakhastan), Payazidin Joshov (Kyrgyzstan), Anvar Kamolidinov (Tajikistan), Arslan Berdiyev and Guljamal Nurmuhammedova (Turkmenistan), Rakhimjan Ikramov (Uzbekistan). The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Giovanni Muñoz, FAO Investment Centre Division and former Land and Water Officer in the FAO Sub-Regional Office for Central Asia, in reviewing the report and providing valuable input. The assistance of Jean Margat and Amit Kohli in reviewing the information related to the water resources was highly appreciated. Special thanks goes to Pasquale Steduto,