SDC - Water management in Ferghana Valley, phase III 2005-2008

Project Title :

Water management in Ferghana Valley, phase II

Organisation :

SDC

Partner(s) :

BVO Syr Darya, The Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC), The Scientific Information Center ICWC (SIC-ICWC), The International Water Management Institute IWMI

National partners / Water Management Organizations

The leading partners of the Project will be three principal bodies at national level:

• Kyrgyz Ministry for Agriculture, Water Resources and Processing Industry
• Tajik Ministry for Water Resources and Reclamation
• Ministry for Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan

(More (incl. local level partners))

Region :

Central Asia / Ferghana Valley

Project Number :

KA: 7F-00934.02

Duration :

• Phase I (inception): September 2001 30 April 2002
• Phase II: May 2002 - April 2005
• Phase III: 01 May 2005 - 30 April 2008

Financing (US$) :

• Phase I:
• Phase II: CHF 2‘800‘000.– (approx. USD 2.5-2.6 M.)
• Phase III:

Status :

On-going (Phase III)

URL :

http://iwrm.icwc-aral.uz/stages_en.htm

Description :

The project covers new management of the water supply in the Ferghana Valley where locals are battling with excessive salinity, desiccation and declining agricultural fertility. Part of the responsibility for these phenomena lies primarily with uneconomic irrigation systems where approximately 50 percent of the water goes to waste. Under this project, the aim is to identify ways of saving water and increasing soil fertility, as well as improving water management in the countries concerned – Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Measures became imperative because a drop of up to 50% in crop yield has resulted in food shortages and triggered a sharp increase in food imports. The Ferghana Valley, which in itself is very fertile, has a fairly high population density of 900 people per square kilometre. During the initial phase of the project, the legal, financial and institutional situation in the region was studied, the necessary measures determined and possible donors pinpointed. In the second phase, which is still devoted to planning, the initial results will be presented to the project partners and the authorities before the projects themselves are addressed. The project is being conducted in conjunction with the local organization BVO Syr Darya, the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination, the Scientific Information Centre and the International Water Management Institute.

The Project Phase III consolidates, strengths and disseminates the new institutional arrangements and improvements in the field of water and land productivity achieved within Phase II and intensifies the vertical integration of different Project components. In this context the emphasis will be focused on organizational capacity building.

The Project develops the principles and methods of sustainable financing system at canals, WUA and farms levels. This activity will include in discussing issues related to low farm gate prices and production quotas in a political dialogue with the governments and analyzing possibilities to introduce innovative financial tools for financing rehabilitation and improvement works at WUAs and farms levels.

Development of cooperation network with other donors and project will become more essential during Phase III. This will include dissemination of know-how and IWRM principles developed during Phase II within of other donors' projects as well as a coordinated approach to a political dialogue with the governments.

Press Release on the occasion of launching Phase IV (1 May 2008 - 31 Dec 2010), Feb 2008

The goal of the IWRM project is to improve and reorganize the institutional and managerial methods of water distribution in the Ferghana Valley. The project mainly addresses the possibilities for water saving, improving agricultural productivity, organizing water administrations, promoting and institutional building-up of the new public - private participation forms and the improvement of water allocation mechanisms among the users and between the three countries.

Overall, the project aims to contribute to more secure livelihoods, increased environmental sustainability and reduce water allocation disputes and supports the agricultural restructuring in Central Asian countries through improved management of water resources in the Ferghana valley.

So far three phases of the project have already been successfully implemented. During the Phase I, a detailed analysis of the legal, institutional, economic-financial and managerial issues, as well as an analysis and evaluation of earlier experiences, methodologies and systems developed by other donors and regional and state organizations in the water management sector, was carried out.

Major achievements of the project during phase two were the increased awareness amongst the policy makers about the principles of IWRM, improved water distribution along canals, demonstrated bottom–up approach, demonstrated potential for increasing yields and water productivity by up to 30 percent.

Throughout the third project phase the efforts have been made to improve efficiency of modern governance policies, management procedures and institutional arrangements introduced at the national, regional and local levels during the second phase. The project also focuses on expansion of improved irrigation management practices and strengthening cooperation with other IWRM projects in the region.

In this phase the project puts greater emphasis on the reform of the water policies at the national level. As a result, innovative solutions for irrigation canal management and sustainable water user associations and effective methods for sustainable financing of the system at the canal, WUA and farm level shall be developed and introduced.

Lessons Learned :

• SDC-Ferghana IWRM III-ExtRev FINAL Nov07.pdf

Contact :

SDC Tashkent office: Omina Islamova / Hanspeter Maag