Central Asia The Costs of Irrigation Inefficiency in Tajikistan

The Aral Sea Basin consists of the drainage area of two major rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. The rivers originate in the Tien Shan Mountains and the Pamirs, and run through Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The basin is home to almost 60 million people, and provides irrigation to 11.4 million hectares (Ha). An estimated 116 km3 is diverted for irrigation, one of the key drivers of economic growth, employment, poverty reduction and food security in the region. At the same time, diversion of water for irrigation of vast agricultural fields has contributed to severe environmental and health problems in the basin. As a result of population increases, climate change, and economic development, water resources in Central Asia are increasingly under pressure. At the regional level, annual water availability per person per year, currently 2,500 m3 , is expected by 2030 to reach only 1,700 m3 per person per year, the internationally recognized level for water stress. The study focused on causes, costs, and solutions of low irrigation efficiency in Tajikistan’s irrigated agriculture. Its main purpose was to raise awareness about the high costs resulting from irrigation inefficiency in Tajikistan. The results of the analysis of these three scenarios suggests that the highest reduction in costs to the country at 62 percent will be achieved mainly through the release of saved power to the export market (that is, 57 percent from exported energy and 5 percent from increased collection of irrigation service fees and power fees). In other words, the cost of pump irrigation to the country cannot be meaningfully reduced when the saved energy is used to expand irrigation coverage that is using energy at a subsidized rate. If the government follows the pump irrigation cost reduction model proposed under Scenario 3, the earnings from the power exports could then be used to support the population whose livelihoods depend on pump irrigation.