The seminars organized jointly by the Ministry of Water Resources and the National Water Resources Management Project in Uzbekistan Phase 2 will be held in all regions of Uzbekistan by September 1, 2020. The participants including farmers, water management specialists, researchers, heads of cotton clusters and representatives of manufacturing companies, will discuss the prospects and advantages of innovative irrigation technologies as well as the incentives provided by the government for their introduction.

The event has had a wide coverage in the local mass media and has prompted great interest among specialists as well as the general public. “The advantage of a field demonstration workshop is that farmers are inspired to introduce a new irrigation method,” says Sardor Sodikov, an expert from the Syrdarya-Sokh Basin Administration of Irrigation Systems. “Farmers from remote areas came to participate in the seminar. I am sure that if we organize more of such events, then by the end of this year and the beginning of the next year the number of users of water-saving technologies will increase significantly”.

It is noteworthy that the Water Sector Development Concept of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020 – 2030 elaborated with the technical assistance of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation foresees expansion of the areas under the modern water-saving irrigation technologies. It is planned to introduce water-saving irrigation technologies in irrigation of agricultural crops from 175 thousand hectares to 1 million hectares by 2025, and up to 2 million hectares by 2030. Accordingly, areas with drip irrigation technologies will increase from 77.4 thousand to 300 thousand hectares by 2025, and up to 600 thousand hectares by 2030.