Ovezdurdy Jumadurdyev, Specialist on water resources management

Ovezdurdy Jumadurdyev, Specialist on water resources management of the project "Supporting climate resilient livelihoods in agricultural communities in drought-prone areas of Turkmenistan"

UNDP: Ovezdurdy, please tell us, in the context of climate change in drylands of Turkmenistan, which innovative water-saving irrigation technologies are most acceptable for small farmers?

Ovezdurdy Jumadurdyev: First of all, I would like to note that “any irrigation technology that we use for the first time, even if it is not an innovation for neighbors or competitors, is considered an innovation.”

Irrigation technology aimed at reducing water loss at the field level is called water saving. World experience shows that the productivity of water use depends on the technology used for irrigation of agricultural crops. The technology of irrigation of agricultural crops, in turn, is associated with the soil conditions of the territory, the method of irrigation, the type of crops and other factors.

Based on these considerations, innovative water-saving irrigation technologies can be divided into two large groups. The first group is technologies that require large financial investments. This includes drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, and subsurface irrigation.

The second group includes technologies that do not require large financial costs. For example, irrigation through the furrow, irrigation using flexible hoses, siphons, adherence to the recommended optimal irrigation regimes and optimal elements of the furrow irrigation technique, irrigation along short furrows, irrigation with variable streams, using sub-irrigation of drought-resistant varieties of agricultural crops, deep loosening without layer turnover, the use of alfalfa crop rotations.

Depending on the financial and technical capabilities, farmers themselves have to choose the innovative water-saving irrigation technologies that suit them. The goal of our project is to transfer knowledge to farmers about the advantages and disadvantages of each type of technology in certain climatic and economic conditions, as well as to develop skills to use the selected technologies.