Irrigation and drainage for cotton cultivation in Uzbekistan

Abstract

Water and soil are essential for agriculture, and their appropriate use and management are crucial. Irrigation agriculture which water supplied artificially is highly productivity and has played an important role in global food security. However, the unstable water resources and soil salinization due to inappropriate water management have made proper water and soil management increasingly important. The republic of Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country located in an arid and semi-arid region, dramatically improved cotton yields through large-scale irrigation development since the 1950s during the Soviet era. However, over-irrigation and neglect of drainage have led to soil salinization, and suffering from this damage for a long time. This report provides an overview of cotton cultivation and soil salinization in Uzbekistan and reports on findings from a field study conducted by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) focusing on irrigation and drainage.