The construction works are taking place in Batken to reinforce the irrigation canals and protect them from mudflows

May 15, 2020

Irrigation canal Ak-Suu, Batken province

The consequences of climate change are becoming more noticeable in the Kyrgyz Republic, the frequency of natural phenomena in the form of mudflows, floods, landslides, droughts, and early frosts increase from year to year, which causes significant damage to agriculture and affects the food security of the country. As a mountainous country, we are one of the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change from Central Asian countries. Thus, increasing resilience to climate change is a vital necessity for us.

Modeling and estimation of the humidification coefficient showed that Batken province is the most vulnerable to climate change among all other regions of the country. In the worst-case scenario, up to 54% of its territory may become unusable in agriculture, of which 17.65% may turn into deserts. At the same time, the spring season in Batken oblast is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, causing mudflows in the mountains causing great damage to agricultural land by destroying the irrigation canals used by local farmers. It must be recognized that not only nature is to blame for the fact that farmland suffers from a lack of water or natural disasters. The poor technical condition and deterioration of most irrigation systems, the use of ineffective irrigation technologies, and methods negatively impact on losing up to 40% of irrigation water while transporting it to the fields.

“More than 500 million m3 of water was used last year for agricultural water supply in Batken province, while the official volume of water losses during its transportation amounted to almost 115 million m3, which negatively affects rural communities and limits their ability to generate income on their sites”- says Nazarov Bakyt, the Chairman of Batken regional water users’ association.

In order to address the issue and reduce losses from climate change in target agricultural communities of the Batken region of the Kyrgyz Republic, the UN Development Program implements the project “Strengthening climate resilience of Batken province through the Implementation of the “climate-smart” irrigation” in partnership with the local self-governments and financial support of the Trust Fund of the Russian Federation. The project is a part of the national adaptation plan to the impacts of climate change in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Despite difficult conditions prevailing in the country in connection with the spread of the coronavirus infection COVID-19, the construction works have been started in seven pilot municipalities of Batken province to reinforce the irrigation canals that will not only protect them from the damaged of the mudflows but also reduce the functional loss of irrigation water.

Over the past 15 years, due to spring floods in the Ak-Suu River, it has become difficult to install a water intake on the Kyzyl Baraz irrigation canal, and the mudflow blocks the water in the canal every year. About five years ago, the mudflow demolished the final part of the canal feeding 145 hectares of irrigated area. This impacts more than 350 households, with a total number of 1,765 people. To take appropriate measures to clean the canal from the effects of mudflow, residents and LSGs lack financial resources and equipment, therefore, these consequences are not always possible to eliminate. Because of this, during the spring fieldwork during irrigation, water becomes inaccessible to the villagers.

UNDP is currently financing construction and rehabilitation works on sections of the irrigation canal. Local residents of Ak-Suu village from vulnerable households are also involved in the work and receive food for their work from the UN World Food Program such as flour and vegetable oil.

“We hope that this activity on reinforcing the irrigation canals will provide farmers with uninterrupted seasonal irrigation water, and irrigated lands will be protected from the risks of mudflows and floods. We also hope that it will reduce the vulnerability of the population to the dangers of mudflow and land degradation processes. The total amount of the project in Ak-Suu municipality is about 2 million KGS”, said Alymbek Kalmyratov, the head of the Ak-Suu municipality of Lailaik district.