Promoting Integrated Water Resources Management Practices through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Uzbekistan

Promoting Integrated Water Resources Management Practices
through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Uzbekistan

Water plays a vital role in the agricultural development of a country and improving the well being of the people. This is especially true for the arid countries of Central Asia, including Uzbekistan, where agricultural production heavily depends on irrigation. With climate change and a population growth in these countries, it is important to use the available water prudently and more efficiently.

 This is why one of the priorities of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Uzbekistan is to promote an integrated water resource management (IWRM) approach through its regional water management program.

 The water management  program focuses on policy, regulatory, institutional, organizational and managerial improvements aimed at providing securer livelihoods and environmental sustainability. These improvements are also increasing the welfare of the rural population and reducing the potential for conflicts over water allocation.

 The SDC regional water program also covers the portions of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that extend into the Fergana Valley.

 The core thrust of the program, the IWRM Fergana Valley Project, was started in 2001 in close cooperation with water management organizations at every level of the water management hierarchy . The Uzbek portion of the pilot project is located along the South Fergana Canal on an area more than 100,000 hectares. Within this project, the IWRM concept and its practical application and respective training packages have been developed and tested in the Fergana Valley.

 The project seeks to change the existing centralized top-down water management approach to a bottom-up water governance system by introducing the hydrographic principle as well as public participation and empowerment.

 These objectives are achieved through ongoing social mobilization and extensive training programs. As a result, hydrographic water consumer associations (WCA), groups of water consumers, unions of canal water users, and canal water committees have been established. The latter linked WCAs to the canal management.

 Joint efforts among all stakeholders from the top of the water hierarchy down to the farmer level have led to the setting up of agreed-upon procedures and methods for stabilizing water supply, providing equitable water distribution, and maintaining proper public control by water users themselves.

 As a result of this cooperation, the total water withdrawal from the South Fergana Canal in Uzbekistan has decreased about 20 percent. This is mainly due to institutional reforms and the improvement of mutual discipline of water managers and water users. Through this, the six key IWRM principles were implemented in the Fergana Valley:

• the hydrographic institutional setting;

• linking of hierarchy levels;

• integration of sectors in the form of Union of Water Users;

• linking of different types of water sources;

• a shift from supply to demand management; and

• water conservation.

 To complement institutional development at the canal level with required technological support, SDC has also implemented a project to automate control structures and introduce the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition SCADA) system at the Syrdarya River and three pilot canals, including the South Fergana Canal in Uzbekistan. This system has been a useful tool for the Basin Water Organization of Syrdarya River and the pilot canal management organizations as they work to allocate and deliver water to WCAs and farmers in a timely and efficient manner.

 SDC is also financing the Water Productivity Improvement Project (WPI) which reinforces water savings at farm and plot levels. The project is a logical continuation of the plot-level work within the IWRM project.

 Improved water saving application methods and techniques are being adapted to the local socio-economic context and disseminated to farmers through existing extension agents and channels. This in turn will contribute to improving plot productivity and financial sustainability of farmers.

 The Uzbek part of this project is being implemented in close partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources and the Basin Administrations of Irrigation Systems in the Fergana, Andijan and Namangan regions.

 The project links various levels in the agricultural innovation cycle, including adaptive research, transformation of information into extension messages, extension/dissemination beyond direct project influence, and farmers and policy-level organizations. It also bridges the gaps between both governmental and non-governmental institutions and between the research-extension and farmer level.

 Ways of future sustainability of water extension services are also being explored.

 Another project financed by SDC is the Central Asian Regional Water Information Base Project (CAREWIB). This project aims at improving information provision to water and environmental sectors in Central Asian countries to facilitate decision making, promote transparency and foster public support for the rational use of natural resources.

 One of the most successful Swiss irrigation water projects in Uzbekistan is the non-reimbursable technical assistance provided within the Rural Enterprise Support Project Phase II. SDC teamed with the World Bank to complement substantial investments in rehabilitation of the irrigation and drainage network with adequate institutional development.

 The best practices of the IWRM project tested in the Fergana Valley have been further disseminated in seven districts within seven provinces of Uzbekistan. They are the Buka district of Tashkent, the Bayaut district of Syrdarya, the Alat district of Bukhara, the Mirishkor district of Kashkadarya, the Pasdargom district of Samarkand, the Yazyavan district of Fergana, and the Ulugnor district of Andijanprovinces. Together with the Uzbek part of the IWRM project, the area covered in Uzbekistan now reaches about 450,000 hectares or 15 percent of the country’s total irrigated area.

 The project also focuses on social mobilization, trainings on various aspects of WCA operations, and the operation of farmer field schools. Sixty-two new WCAs have been established along the hydrologic boundaries in the seven districts. The new WCAs are formally registered in accordance with the new Uzbek water legislation.

 Ongoing coaching of these WCAs helps them elaborate realistic work plans and budgets and monitor fee collection rates. The project has also conducted a comprehensive financial and economic analysis to assess the loan-carrying capacity of the WCAs. Based on this study, recommendations have been made on improving the  financial performance of farmers and WCAs. The project is now assisting WCAs in implementing these recommendations.

 To facilitate adequate operations, the project has also provided each WCA with personal computers, printers, bicycles, and software for simple financial planning, accounting and reporting.

 In addition, 40 farmer field schools have been set up and equipped with water flume meters to demonstrate simple and affordable water-saving technologies. Farmer - trainers of these farmer field schools run parallel classes throughout the annual irrigation and production cycles. Various farmer-friendly dissemination materials have been prepared and distributed among neighbor farmers to facilitate better yields and water savings.

 The above-mentioned SDC projects have been implemented mainly by the Scientific Information Center of Interstate Commission for Water Coordination and International Water Management Institute. Non-reimbursable Swiss financing of these projects has so far reached about $18 million.

 The Swiss regional water program contributes to sustainable agricultural production and the well-being of the rural population in Uzbekistan through the facilitation of the institutional development of country’s  water management sector.