Ashgabat, 23-24 November 2018: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Turkmenistan have organized 2-day training on water use and irrigation water accounting. The meeting was held within the framework of the joint project of UNDP and GEF “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for Sustainable Water Management in Turkmenistan”.

The target group of the seminar consisted of 30 water specialists from all velayats of the country, including representatives from the etrap water management departments, as well as researchers from the institute “Turkmensuwylymtaslama".

During the workshop, the experts of the UNDP project shared with their knowledge about methods for calculating water losses for filtration in farm irrigation canals and ways to reduce these losses. Moreover, the participants were familiarized with the existing effective methods for measuring water flow in the farm irrigation canals. In the framework of the seminar, participants were taken to the research site of the "Turkmensuvylymtaslama" in Gökdepe, where they had a chance to observe the constructed structure and installed water-saving irrigation equipment.

A meeting was also held with young graduate students of the Turkmen Agricultural University, conducting research work on crop irrigation on the fields using various water-saving irrigation systems.

At the end of the seminar, the participants performed practical exercises on the calculation of irrigation water volumes supplied to the fields in the cultivation of various crops, measuring costs and keeping records of irrigation water.