Ahmad Hamidov

Uzbekistan promotes drip irrigation as water availability falls, but farmers oftenreceive the hardware without scheduling guidance. We tested whether a simplified,pre-calculated evapotranspiration-based schedule, requiring no on-farm sensors orspecialist training, can deliver drip irrigation’s water-saving and yield benefits toexisting adopters. A climatic-normal FAO-56 schedule for drip-irrigated cottonin Jizzakh was packaged as tables and validated in two phases: paired researcher-supervised drip–furrow trials on four farms over 2021–2023, and a Difference-in-Differences study of 32 purposively selected existing drip adopters (2022–2023).In the trials, scheduled drip irrigation raised yield by 39.9%, reduced deliveredirrigation water by 31.9% and raised water productivity by 105.4% relative to farmer-managed furrow plots. Unguided drip adopters were under-irrigating. Afterreceiving the tables, their drip water application rose 24.6% between 2022 and2023, and in 2023 guided drip plots yielded 60.3% more than their furrow plotswith 34.6% less delivered irrigation water and 145.3% higher water productivity.A spatial screen of seasonal net irrigation requirement across 14,445 districts ofwater-stressed Asia and Africa over 1991–2023 shows it stable between yearswherever rainfall is a small fraction of demand (median interannual coefficient ofvariation 5.4% in arid districts). Ten of twelve critically water-stressed countriesmeet a ±10% criterion, and 19 reference sites would reproduce district requirementswithin ±10% for 99% of Uzbekistan’s cotton area. For these selected adopters,pre-calculated tables can convert existing drip hardware into yield gains whilekeeping delivered irrigation water below furrow levels, without new equipment ortraining.

Актуальность. Дефицит водных ресурсов и рост затрат на орошение обуславливают необходимость комплексной оценки не только агрономической, но и экономической эффективности технологий капельного орошения. Цель исследования — определить структуру водного баланса и экономическую эффективность капельного орошения хлопчатника при внедрении FAO-стандартного метода в условиях Джизакской области. Методы. На опытном участке (14,7 га) в Шарофрашидовском районе в 2021 – 2023 гг. сопоставлены 3 варианта: В1 — традиционное бороздковое орошение, В2 — капельное орошение без научно обоснованного графика, В3 — капельное орошение по FAO-56 методу. Водный баланс рассчитан по уравнению ETc = IR + Pe + ΔSW + Cr. Экономическая эффективность определена через показатели чистой прибыли и рентабельности. Результаты. Вариант В3 обеспечил в среднем за 3 года водосбережение 35,1 % и прирост урожайности 34,7 % относительно контроля В1 (p < 0,05). В структуре суммарного водопотребления доля почвенной влаги составила 11,8 %, атмосферных осадков — 2,3 %. Рентабельность технологии в 2022 и 2023 гг. составила 128,4 % и 102,2 % соответственно, срок окупаемости первоначальных инвестиций — 3 – 4 года. Выводы. Внедрение FAO-стандартного метода капельного орошения экономически оправдано и обеспечивает существенную экономию водных ресурсов в условиях светлых сероземов Джизакской области.

Implementation of modernized irrigation technologies is important for increasing farm productivity and improving resource use efficiency (Perry et al., 2017). Modernized technologies are also key f...

Human activities have significant impacts on the European terrestrial landscape, contributing to anthropogenic climate change. Soil health, crucial for human life, is at a critical phase, with nearly 70% of European soil considered unhealthy. To address this, the European Commission has launched the Soil Mission, ‘A Soil Deal for Europe,’ to restore soil health by 2050, and adopted the Soil Monitoring Law in 2025 to ensure the target is successfully achieved. In order for such achievements to take place, a systems perspective is essential in understanding how land use and soil management contribute to soil health. The DPSIR (Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts, and Responses) framework, developed as a policy support tool by the European Environment Agency (EEA), offers a valuable tool for systems thinking and has been widely used to analyse complex human‐environment interactions. By breaking down complex problems and establishing causal linkages, DPSIR allows us to frame the diverse issues associated with environmental resources and support its adaptive management. With growing interest in the systems approach for combining soil health and land use, bolstered by the research demands of the EU soil mission, there is a need for a standardised approach of the DPSIR framework to support and ensure an efficient and widespread adaptation of systems thinking for soil resources. However, DPSIR's use for soil and land resources has been limited at present. This study aims to develop a customised DPSIR framework for land use and soil management, providing insights into its better application and adaptability. We built on the user experiences by exploring nine case studies across Europe of DPSIR application within the context of soil and land use, and conducted a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis related to the application of the framework. The developed generic DPSIR framework capitalised on the identified strengths and opportunities to provide an encompassing systems approach for soil resources. Further strategies for adaptation of the framework are provided with an aim to make it a comprehensive tool supporting the EU's soil mission and promoting a systems approach to soil health and land use management.

The water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus is being promoted as a conceptual idea for achieving sustainable development, that describes the interconnections and interdependencies between those three sectors. The main objective of this article is to operationalize the WEF nexus concept in lift-irrigated areas of Uzbekistan through involving local stakeholders, to investigate the WEF nexus within the lift-irrigated agriculture of the Kashkadarya region, an area heavily reliant on the Karshi Canal system. The study is grounded in the urgent need for sustainable development, with a focus on enhancing intersectoral cooperation between water, energy, and food sectors. A case study methodology was employed, incorporating semi-structured interviews with experts, alongside local farmers and scientists. Data were analysed using the qualitative analysis software, Atlas.ti. The results indicate significant challenges to intersectoral cooperation in the WEF nexus, including lack of trust, communication barriers, differing priorities, and insufficient political will. However, the findings also highlight the potential benefits of improved cooperation, such as enhanced resource efficiency, reduced operational costs, and mitigated risks from environmental stressors like drought. The study concludes that, according to stakeholders’ opinions, while the WEF nexus presents critical opportunities for advancing sustainable development in Uzbekistan, substantial barriers must be addressed to realize these benefits. Recommendations include promoting sustainable agriculture to reduce water dependency, improving energy security by diversifying energy sources, and raising awareness of the WEF nexus’s importance. Furthermore, fostering stronger stakeholder cooperation is crucial for achieving Uzbekistan’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a holistic concept used to understand the synergies and trade-offs of interdependent water, energy, and food resources. Despite its widespread use, this concept often overlooks environmental concerns. In addition, the lack of a systemic approach in the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) has resulted in serious environmental degradation. For instance, the Aral Sea, situated at the terminus of the basin, is steadily shrinking, yet researchers studying the WEF nexus tend to overlook the upstream tributaries of the basin. This study aims to determine the extent to which research on the WEF nexus in the ASB in Central Asia has considered the environment through a systematic review of the literature published between 2012 and 2022. The results indicate that the number of WEF publications regarding the ASB has seen an upward trend, with a primary focus on the transboundary level and less research available on the local and national levels. This confirms the strong reliance of Central Asian states on one another for food, energy, and water resources. Furthermore, the results show that the majority of published studies either do not consider environmental concerns in their analyses at all or do so with little precision. Therefore, to achieve precise and sustainable outcomes, this study recommends the inclusion of environmental concerns along with basin-wide coverage in future WEF analyses. Finally, the WEF concept should be downscaled to the national and local levels in order to facilitate its implementation.

Worldwide, groundwater is often poorly understood and misgoverned due to difficulties in monitoring and collective action organisation. Problems occur due to groundwater’s invisible nature, consequent poor groundwater understanding, and systemic institutional failures. In Central Asia, groundwater coordination is important at local as well as national levels, considering regional water competition since state transitions. Historic water overuse further emphasises a need for groundwater coordination between states. Information on aquifer status is often publicly unavailable and rarely shared, even between national governmental agencies. Considering the region’s arid climate and dependence on glacial melt for seasonal flows, protection of groundwater is vital to ensure water access amid pressures such as climate change. Groundwater has historically provided drinking water, with recent increased use as an alternative water source for the agriculture sector. Institutional failures in groundwater governance can be understood as “soft limits” to adaptation in the region, which governance capacity improvements could ameliorate. To understand the current status of Central Asian groundwater governance through an illustrative case of Uzbekistan, we consider its social-ecological system, associated problems (e.g., pollution, and overexploitation), and institutional context. This paper summarises findings specific to Uzbekistan from a systematic literature review on the subject in Central Asia, outlining governance challenges and opportunities. Informational governance is analysed and reveals a clear impact on groundwater use and outcomes. They include: i) uncertainty over status (i.e., quantity and quality); ii) governance complexities at various levels due to multiple knowledges; iii) power constellations and a lack of cooperation suggest increased uncertainty; iv) interest in information reform. Public data access and coordination across the region should better support collective action at local levels, reduce governance complexities, and reduce status quo hierarchies.