Integrated interdisciplinary research gets to the heart of ecological and economic problems in the Aralsea Region of Uzbekistan
Once, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest fresh water lake of the world. Since the 1960s, the sea surface has been reduced by 60% due to the immense expansion of irrigated land for the production of cotton during the Soviet era. Uzbekistan was one of the main providers of cotton, which was a strategic good for the Soviet Union. Nowadays, the “Aral Sea crisis” is considered a schoolbook example for a human-induced rapidly advancing process of soil salinization and exhaustion, which threatens both the ecological sustainability and economic viability of the small-scale farms in the region. This situation is especially alarming in Khorezm, a region in the lowlands of the Amu Darya, at the southern rim of the Aral Sea Basin in the northwest of Uzbekistan. Therefore, adequate measures are urgently needed to help the rural population.
The Center for Development Research of the University of Bonn (ZEF) met this challenge by setting up a project on “Economic and Ecological Restructuring of Land- and Water Use in Khorezm, Uzbekistan” in 2002. Now first research results show that there are prospects for the particular problems in this region. The Aral Sea is considered to be lost, but the project has shown that the ecology of the region and the agricultural livelihoods can be preserved and improved with judicious measures.
The ZEF-led research project is the largest and from the Uzbek side most important scientific cooperation in the country. It is mainly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and implemented in cooperation with UNESCO. Senior and junior researchers from Europe and Uzbekistan have been analyzing what impact the current agricultural production system has on the state of the natural resources water and land, as well as on the economic welfare of the rural population in the region. “This project and the possibilities it offers for building scientific capacity among the young Uzbek academic generation is an enormous gain for our University, the region of Khorezm, and for Uzbekistan”, says Prof. Dr. Azimbay Sadullayev, Rector of the University of Urgench, which is the main project partner in the region. “We especially appreciate the high level of professional training our PhD students receive during their education at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn and in the project. After finishing their PhD, these students contribute substantially to enriching and improving the academic life and standard in Uzbekistan”.
The scientists in the ZEF project work out concepts for an optimized and sustainable resource use, necessary to interrupt the vicious link of increasing rural poverty to the misuse of natural resources. At the heart of the project’s research is the agricultural sector, which is the backbone of Uzbekistan’s economy. Whereas 33% of Uzbekistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) is derived from the agriculture sector (2002), over 50% of the country’s labor force were employed in this sector. In Khorezm, even 65% of the local population earn their livelihood from agriculture.
“The project wants to improve the economic efficiency and ecological sustainability of the agricultural sector, which will require appropriate measures at the policy and technological level”, explains Prof. Dr. Paul Vlek, project leader and director at ZEF. “Our integrated research seeks solutions to regional problems by changes at three levels: Enabling policies, implementing institutions and technological innovations for improving farm and water management.”
“At the policy level, economic research shows that an injudicious adoption of market mechanisms can create more problems than it would solve”, says Dr. John Lamers, project manager in Khorezm. “The state-order system controlling the main commodities cotton and wheat actually works also as a risk-minimizing subsidy rather than a tax for the farmers. Though the farmers have to meet certain production targets, they receive the inputs for free or at low costs. Thus, policy interventions such as introducing water pricing or abolishing parts of the state order are to be analyzed carefully before being implemented. This analysis is due to be completed soon”, Lamers points out.
At the institutional level, research has been focussing on management and allocation of water and of agricultural land. In order to increase the ecological sustainability of agriculture in Khorezm, the scientists aim at reducing water wastage by introducing variable irrigation methods, at reversing soil degradation by afforestation, and at setting marginal land free for ecological services
”Before implementing concepts from elsewhere, we first analyzed the status quo”, explains Dr. Lamers. “Thus, we found for example that the cause for secondary soil salinization is not only an inadequate drainage as is often being claimed but also an issue of irrigation water management. We try to address the salinity problem through a range of measures, among others conservation agriculture and afforestation. In the project, we developed a technology to rapidly establish trees in this environment. Our research has shown that afforestation in Khorezm has various benefits for the farmers and the environment: it protects against wind erosion, produces fuelwood and animal fodder, recycles organic matter to the soil which allows the reduction of water use for irrigation purposes, and ameliorates the landscape.”
The project’s scientists have compiled high-resolution GIS (geographic information system) maps of all major features in the region: soil, groundwater, crops, land use, as well as economic and social indicators. This GIS database forms a basis for integrative decision-making and for optimizing the management of water, crops, land use, and soil salinity.
At the farm level, first of all, the knowledge gap, caused by the collapse of the former Soviet system, has to be bridged. “In Khorezm alone, there are around 17,000 newly privatized farmers, who used not to be farmers before. The majority of these new farmers are ill-prepared for their new role and lack the most basic skills and training to be able to sustainably use the natural resources. Farmers even know little about the quality of their soil and its salinity”, tells Dr. John Lamers, project manager in Khorezm. “Our research addresses these concerns by developing improved farm management, a rational use of inputs such as fertilizers, and better rotations of crops, including some lucrative novel crops. We also want to integrate fish production in small ponds so that farmers can increase their income”.
“All the research will remain without effect if it is not accepted and therefore implemented by the local, regional, and national decision makers in Uzbekistan”, relates Prof. Vlek. “That is why we put so much emphasis on the cooperation with our local partners at these three levels. Our partners such as the University of Urgench, the regional governor (hakim) of Khorezm, but also the Uzbek Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources realize the opportunity this project offers and give us all the support we need. This will be increasingly important in the next phase, in which we will apply and elaborate the research done so far in an integrated way on a pilot farm in Khorezm. In the end, it is our partners in the project that will translate our findings into practice”.
Contact:
Alma van der Veen, Press- and Public -Relations Officer
Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn
Phone: # 49 228 73 1846, e-mail: presse.zef@uni-bonn.de
