UNDP and State Committee of Water Management of Turkmenistan share scientifically proven best irrigation practices

September 18, 2020

Ashgabat, 17 September 2020: Nearly 20 representatives of the water, agricultural and agrobusiness spheres took part in the online training on water saving irrigation organized by the joint project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the State Committee of Water Management of Turkmenistan funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The online seminar took place with support of the European Union funded Project “Support to Further Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Turkmenistan - SARD III”.

Participants of the training included representatives of the State Committee of Water Management, Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan, Turkmen State Agricultural University and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Protection of Turkmenistan. The goal of the training is to share the results of research in irrigation conducted by the project on 145 ha of Geokdepe field from 2017.

Eight project experts including specialists of the “Turkmensuwylymtaslama” and the Agricultural University delivered presentations with live online broadcasting from the Geokdepe to demonstrate the results of the research.

“Over the past 2 years, project specialists together with the experts from the water research institute “Turkmensuwylymtaslama”, students and professors of the Turkmen State Agricultural University tested various irrigation technics to grow cotton, wheat, and various vegetables. The project has proved that water and energy saving technologies allow to boost volume of the collected yield. This is especially important under the current climatic conditions of Turkmenistan, where water becomes a scarce resource in many agricultural areas,” noted Akmyrat Yazhanov, UNDP/GEF project specialist.

The project has constructed necessary infrastructure at the research site in Geokdepe. The expertise of the professors and students of the Turkmen state Agriculture University as well as invited experts has demonstrated that dripping water irrigation system allows collecting around 6 tons per hectare of cotton, while traditional furrow irrigation allows collecting around 2 tons per hectare. Similar results of boosted harvest were achieved in growing corn, eggplant and wheat. In addition, the project has proved that water and energy saving technologies in irrigation help prevent the rise of the underground waters and secondary salinization of the soil.

The results of the project are widely disseminated by the academic and business spheres to help make informed decision making in irrigated agriculture.

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Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for Sustainable Water Management in Turkmenistan addresses the problems of water management, energy consumption, land degradation (salinization), and agricultural productivity through integrated activities, with a goal toward achieving multiple benefits in different areas.