IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS

The demise of the former Soviet Union (FSU) led to disintegration of watersheds resulting in water disputes particularly between water-surplus and water-deficit subregions, followed by arbitrations, treaties and some water-sharing agreements. Higher water mismanagement mainly by semi-desert steppy lower riparians, their fast growing water needs for dense population and huge thirsty irrigable land and the 'locational benefits', they claim for hydrocarbon resources, on one side, and the mountainous republics becoming conscious about the water resources - all is heading towards a complicated situation. Moreover, the three water-deficit republics have recorded the lowest irrigation efficiencies, much below the world average. Such unhealthy trends are mostly responsible for creating an environmental catastrophe in Greater Central Asia in which Aral Sea presents the worst scene. This dynamics has made irrigation management crucial and detrimental for the sustained crop production. In order to minimize the water loss from source to field, a critical issue in irrigation management, the respective governments, some international organizations, and NGOs have started to improve irrigation efficiency through the application of irrigation technology and the related measures. These initiatives have been successfully rewarded. However, the states being highly interdependent and single planning unit, their sustenance and development jointly lies in managing the resources, significantly water, which requires high degree of regional cooperation. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]