CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems - DS

Overview: CA-AS012 - Aral Sea Region (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan)

CA-AS013 - CA-AS013


Leader Akmal Akramkhanov, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA

Team members: 16
Partner organizations: 19

Budget 2025
USD : 0

Activities/Products:  15


  Description
    
The Aral Sea Action Site (ASAS), located in the lowest steam of Amudarya and Syrdarya Central Asian rivers (43° 2.048'N; 60° 0.803'E) stretches from South Kazahstan to mid-Karakalpakstan in the west of Uzbekistan and to the North Turkmenistan. Integrated research activities as part of CRP Dryland Systems are being implemented in several field sites called “40-let Karakalpakstana” cooperative, including seven rural communities in Karauzyak district and Karabuga village in Karakalpakstan; Akdepe etrap, Dashauz province in Turkmenistan and clusters of villages in Kazalinsk in Kazakhstan. Altogether these sites are part of much larger water shed at the borderline (a transition zone between agriculture irrigated and sandy desert) lands and they host a population of at least 1.6 mln people, which are leaving mostly in the remote rural areas. In the long run scaling can be enlarged towards a large transect as about 23794.0 km2 with a population of more than 6.5mln people, representing 9.0% of total population of Aral Sea Basin. Climate variability (index of aridity 0,065-0,18), low annual rainfall (90-150 mm), induces serial droughts and temperature extremes and exacerbate the already degrading arable and range lands. The area embedding the field sites is facing the challenges associated with , rising saline water tables and declining of its quality loss of rangeland productivity and biodiversity, food security instability and low income for poor-resources people. Dryland salinity and associated water supply and its quality are recognized to be among the most severe natural resource degradation problems in these marginal belt. Salt affected irrigated lands in lower stream of Amydarya (Karakalpakstan & Khoresm region) increased at average from 1,16 mln.ha in 1990 to 4,43 mln ha (more than 70%) in 2012. Access to irrigation water in this region has drastically decreased in the last years, which caused additional obstacles to rangelands productivity and agricultural production. For last 10 years stable trend of cotton and wheat yields decreasing is observed (for example cotton yield doesn’t exceed 1,6 t/ha). Loss of rice yield due to insufficient water supply ranges depending of district level from 40 up to 50t/ha per year. Increasing deterioration in water and soil conditions is exacerbating the poverty and induces out-migration and so loss of local traditional knowledge and experience of land and water use. Reducing numbers of livestock due to lacking of good quality forage and low grazing capacity of desert pastures is negatively reflecting on income of local people, despite of good access to local markets. Unemployment > 30 % (ILO) and weak capacity to regulate and monitor sustainable use, limited access to decision-making, natural and financial resources keeps to aggravate livelihood of rural poor in all selected sites. Aral Sea Action Site activities are planning under SRT2 (Reducing vulnerability in agro-ecosystems affected by degradation of natural resources) and are focusing on crop/livestock diversification and sustainable management of marginal lands through the scaling up and dissemination of high-yielding forage production packages that are better adapted to the saline and marginal environmental conditions. It is targeting the selection of progressive farmers within border lines of three target countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) to enhance their capacity in efficient on-farm seed production and delivery systems of selected stress-tolerant forages and to apply efficient packages of forage production and utilization technologies. Training and selection of progressive clusters of farmers and animal keepers under supervision of ICARDA,ICBA, IWMI and AVRDC technical staff could become a strong unit in crop diversification and seed production programs to enhance the productivity of salt affected lands and increase the income of rural poor. Farmer-participatory research on village/kishlak level is crucial in transferring the technology of cultivation of salt tolerant crops for rapid adoption. Institutional frame conditions are consider important since a change in land use policies of marginal land may be necessary to implement some options. The institutional settings is screened for their role in providing direct economic benefits to rural farmers, income for the government via taxes, and lead to an overall improvement in ecological conditions in the region. An accurate mapping (location, extend of salinity, irrigation network, water supply, cropping practices etc) by the use of remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) of the marginal lands in the irrigated areas of the entire target sites was started. One of the key impacts of CRP DS collaborative inter-centers activities is that over 200 farmers were reached and trained on using marginal water in their farms, improving water productivity, and using state of the art agricultural technologies. Further, factual information on water resources, cropping systems, and soil salinity was presented to decision-makers to support water / agriculture / environment policies in the Aral Sea region. The on-farm results showed that sorghum and pearl millet can be recommended as second crop (mid-June to early July) after wheat harvest as well as into rice crop rotation. Dual-purpose promising varieties can play significant role to fill gaps in the farm productivity and crop-livestock systems in the three countries. Results obtained on salinity management showed that with appropriate plant genotypes, productive agriculture is possible across a wide range of Aral Sea salt-affected lands. On moderately affected land, wheat had grain yields of 3–5 t/ha, and summer forages had biomass yields of 5–12 t/ha dry matter. On more salinized land, barley had grain yields of 0.8–1.3 t/ha and halophytic grasses produced 7–12 t/ha dry material. Preliminarily evaluation on green forage seed harvesting - in an integrated approach to improve Livelihoods of Rural Communities in Saline Desert Environments in Akdepe etrap (northern Turkemenistan) , Kyzylorda region (Kazakhstan) and Karabuga district (Uzbekistan) showed promising results for pearl millet, sorghum, indigofera, amaranthus, sesame, mungbean, topinambur, licorice, kochia and otehrs. Green biomass, at irrigation salinity of about 18 dS/m, was of 34-55 t/ha for the first harvest, corresponding to 13-20 t dry matter/ha. A desktop review has been initiated to look at the halophytic forages widely recognized as a means for forage using saline land and water; factors affecting the utilisation of this biomass by ruminants such as sheep, cattle and goats. About 24 main halophytic species (mostly grasses and shrubs) are grown for livestock fodder. This review has focused on three factors that affect livestock production using these plants – biomass production, nutritive value (NV) of the biomass and voluntary feed intake (VFI). Use of non-conventional water for establishment of artificial agro-phytocenosis and tree plantation is the key advantage for domestication of economic-valuable native tree, shrubs and perennial halophytes. Preliminary outcomes of these initial studies on salt affected soils have also indicated that tree plantations and shelterbelts with native drought and salt tolerant showed significant growth (for last two years). An agro-silvicultural model of trees intercropped with complementary crops, especially deep-rooted, early-maturing and frost tolerant legumes and graminous crops were evaluated on marginal lands at the Akdepe experimental site. Herbaceous fodder crops planted within the inter-spaces of salt-tolerant trees/shrubs plantations improve productivity of saline prone soils, solve the animal feed gaps in the lands degraded both by overgrazing and salinity, and increase the profits for farmers. Low yields are due in part to low levels of technical knowledge of farmers, inappropriate varieties and poor quality seed. Two seed multiplication trials with participatory work of women to generate additional income were established at farmer lands in each target sites. A field training course was held for local communities in seedling establishment of wild forage shrubs and seed multiplication of dual purpose crops with the female headed households as the main target group. The impact of planting herbaceous fodder crops within inter-spaces of salt-tolerant trees / shrubs improved productivity of saline prone soils solved the animal feed gaps in degraded lands and increased the profits for farmers. International centers acting in Central Asian and Caucasus region in partnership with all stakeholders aim to boost resilience and productivity of the farming and pastoral communities in Aral Sea Action Site at the village level through a more integrated mobilization of existing resources and innovative technical approaches for better livelihood and diversification of income of desert rural remote communities.
  Atlas
    
   Key Results
    
  Activities/Products
    
Code Activity/Product Name Leader Co-leader Total Outputs Output types View
CA-AS012.001 Managing evapotranspiration Vinay Nangia 1
CA-AS012.002 Seed System Platform Ram Sharma 1
CA-AS012.003 Improve land use efficiency Aziz Nurbekov 1
CA-AS012.004 Forage Seed Production Aziz Nurbekov 1
CA-AS012.005 Improving WUE at degraded land Akmal Karimov 1
CA-AS012.006 Salinity management Bogachan Benli Tulkun Yuldashev 1
CA-AS012.007 Increased winter feed production Kristina Toderich 1
CA-AS012.008 Value Chain (Sheep and Goat meat) Barbara Rischkowsky 1
CA-AS012.009 Management practices for improving herd productivity Mourad Rekik Barbara Rischkowsky 1
CA-AS012.010 Innovation Platform Botir Dosov 1
CA-AS012.011 Performance of irrigation methods Bogachan Benli Mariya Glazirina 1
CA-AS012.012 Performance of irrigation scheduling Bogachan Benli Vinay Nangia 1
CA-AS012.013 Interactions among variety and crop rotation options Ram Sharma Ravza Mavlyanova 1
CA-AS012.014 Productive and profitable agricultural systems identification Bogachan Benli 1
CA-AS012.018 Scenario-based assessment of agro-pastoral livelihood system in Aral Sea Region Akmal Akramkhanov Quang Bao Le 1
  Projects
    
Acronym Project Title Year Section Leader Center Budget Start Date End Date View
  Outcomes and Impact
    
Code Outcomes and Impact Type Indicators View
2 Female and male farmers/stakeholders (inc.youth) awareness, skills and knowledge increased research outcome 14
1 Tools, methods, processes and capacity of stakeholders to create/customize resilience options improved research outcome 2
3 Seed system strenghtened and Crops seeds growers network functioning research outcome 2
4 Multi-stakeholder partnerships and interactive learning increased development outcome 3
5 Water use efficiency and Water Productivity increased research outcome 7
6 Livestock productivity increased research outcome 1
7 Crop yields increased research outcome 1
8 Food and Nutrition security status increased (e.g. availability, consumption) research outcome 1
9 Female and male farmers/shakeholders use/adopt/implement methods/tools/approaches/technologies/NRMpractices/Varieties/framework/concepts research outcome 5
10 System approach is adopted by stakeholders research outcome 0
11 Interventions better targeted/prioritized by stakeholders research outcome 0
  Personnel Involved
    
  Partners