http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership This presentation was made during the workshop 'Managing Living Soils' that took place at the FAO HQ, Rome, Italy from 5-7 DEC 2012. This presentation was made by Kristina Toderich, and it has the objective to present Status and Priorities of Soil Management in Central Asia (Uzbekistan as a Case Study). ©FAO: http://www.fao.org

1. STATUS & PRIORITIES OF SOIL
MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA
(UZBEKISTAN as a CASE STUDY)
Technical Workshop “Managing Living Soils” , 5-7 December, 2012, FAO,
Rome, Italy,
Dr. Kristina Toderich, ICBA
International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA- CAC
sub-office, Tashkent , Uzbekistan); kristina@biosaline.org
ktoderich@yahoo.com

2. Increasing of
Temperatures &
Changing of
Precipitation
Patterns: increase
exposure to
drought cycles

3. Global dry areas and salinization
40% of the earth surface is arid and inclined to salinization
Overall, 40 to 60% of irrigated soils of the Aral Sea Basin, which receives water from the Amu
and Syr Darya river systems and occupies approx. 150 million hectares are salt-affected, with
29% of them having a strong to moderate degree of salinity (Qadir et al. 2009, Toderich et al,
2010, Carlo Carli, unpublished data).

4. Shallow groundwater
Soil erosion
Soil salinity Low soil fertility36 million ha
64 million ha 19 million ha
SOIL LIVING CONSTRAINS
4(E. de Pauw, ICARDA 2008)

5. The Aral Sea Basin
is among the most ancient centers of civilization
• Low rainfall, extreme rainfall variability,
severe heat and cold (Climate change
adaptation)
• One of the largest irrigation areas in the
world (9 million ha)
• Old infrastructure and lack of water
distribution planning
• Salinity and waterlogging affect 90% of
the lower Amudarya reaches
• High labor share in agriculture
• Land reform created a generation of
farmers with limited access to traditional
knowledge as well as modern inputs
• Occupational or geographic shifting of the
affected communities
(SIC-ICWC, 2011)

6. Salt affected lands in Central Asian
region demonstrate the most
characteristic features of natural
continental terrestrial
salinization, sodication and
alkalinization. Low organic
matter (< 1.0%), high salt
contents and poor water holding
capacity render these soils
unproductive. The predominant
salinity type is sulphate-chloride.
Na+ and SO42- are dominant
ions. Total nitrogen and
phosphorus ranged between
0.7-5.5 mg kg-1 and 10.0-18.26
mg kg-1 respectively. Available
potassium is low or moderate

7. Difficult soils to
be managed
• Solonchaks salt
accumulation on the
surface (dissolvable
salts- NaCl) –salt
depression
• Solonets –Sodic
Alkaline soil (Fergana
Valley)
• TAKYRS

8. Land Degradation
and Water Quality
Deterioration
Aral Sea Basin
Salt-affected soils
Amu-Darya Basin
1.16 million ha in 1990
1.82 million ha in 2000 (57% )
Syr-Darya Basin
0.34 million ha in 1990
0.61 million ha in 2000 (79% )
Economic losses
US$ 2 billion per year
. MARGINAL & TRANSBOUNDARY
saline LANDS – a huge, but not yet used
in the CA countries;

9. Soil type distribution in the Syr-Darya
river mouth region.
New soil is developing after the
desiccation.

10. 0-4 см; N II 0-4 см; N +
4-7 см; N II
10-13см; N +
0-20; N II
Integrated mechanism
soil/irrigation/crop –
farming sytem
Microphograph of poor
developed soils under
different biogeocenosis

11. • CGIAR Regional Program for Sustainable
Agricultural Development in Central Asia and
the Caucasus
• Strong partnerships with national research
organizations, policy makers, universities,
farmers’ associations
• Operational since 1998
• Financing and governance by the
participating Centers
www.icarda.cgiar.org/cac
• Policy linkages through the Central Asia and
the Caucasus Association of Agricultural
Research Institutions
www.cacaari.org
Partnerships and initiatives

12. That’s why…
To recover soil
productivity…
To use marginal lands
effectively…
To maintain soil
productivity…
There are few important concerns:
To use marginal water
a.Alternative resources of water
Drainage water
Thermal/Artesian water
Saline and alkaline/Sodic water
b.Waste-Water
Oil polluted water
Non-Food chain agriculture
…as a great potential source for biomass
production /non-traditional agriculture use
-to decrease pressure on natural resources through efficient utilization of
marginal resources categories;
to ensure ecosystem function, resilience, services and
better livelihood of poor strata
and solutions

13. into AGROPASTORAL FEEDING SYSTEM
•Carbon stocks *both above/and
underground biomass);
• utilization of marginal resources (water
storage; water retention; catchments
scheme ;water conservation technology;
•renewable energy
• maximizing on-farm productivity;
Supporting and Regulating Ecosystem Services
Deep planting: sticks tap into the water
table;

14. Perspectives: Agroforestry and afforestation of
degraded lands
• Options for large-scale
afforestation of degraded
lands are available
• Multipurpose tree species
with high adaptive
potential, salt, drought and
frost tolerance, and high
utility value
• Re-introduction of desert
and riparian trees and
shrubs
• Rehabilitation and
protection of natural
wetlands
Afforestation of highly
saline land plot in Khorezm,
Uzbekistan, Elaeagnus
angustifolia (J. Lamers et al.
ZEF/KRASS, 2012)
2004
2006
2008

15. Halophytic industrial plantation – as potential alternatives for livestock feeding
and renewable energy sources
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
spring summer autumn
Density,%
0,00
5,00
10,00
15,00
20,00
25,00
30,00
Productivity,c/ha
Xero- density
Xerohalo- density
Haloxero- density
Xero- biomass
Xerohalo- biomass
Haloxero- biomass
Utilization of non-palatable
halophytic biomass as
renewable source of
energy
GRAINS from the Salts
Top-Yield Sweet Sorghum
genotypes

16. Strategy for adoption
of Biosaline technologies
Desalination
(soil rehabilitation)
using
halophytes
What do we
propose
?
Valuable
fodder
Chemical
compounds
Medicinal
things
Energy
(biogas,
biofuel)
Fertilizers … etc.
As a result:
•Desalination
•Increasing of soil productivity…
•Environmental improvement….
•Increasing of fodder (and food)
production…
•Rise of income of local
communities…
Soil quality
rehabilitation,
desalinization
Biomass
production

17. Create Biosaline Value Chains
Biosaline
Production Logistics
Industrial
Production Marketable
Product
Relashinship of total sugar with extractable juice
production at 116 days after sowing in sweet sorghum
y = 97,117e0,2127x
R2
= 0,9006
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Total sugar production t ha-1
Extractablejuicecentner/ha
Energy-Crops
Competition between food and energy

18. Dynam ic of soil m oisture of natural
rangeland site. Kizil-Kesik, April 2006
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0
Soil moisture, %
Soildepth,cm
Alhagi pseudalhagi, Peganum harmala site
Artemisia diffusa, Ferula assa-foetida, Astragalus vil
Haloxylon aphyllum, Artemisia diffusa site
Haloxylon aphyllum, Alhagi pseudalhagi, Peganum ha
Farmer alliances as a potential model for out-scaling.
A stand of licorice, established by
farmers in land abandoned due to
high level of salinity, ready for
harvest
experimental plots of licorice have
been returned to the traditional
moderately salt tolerant crops
(Multi-stages phytoremediation technology)

19. Perspectives: Rehabilitation and
Diversification
• Integrated use of marginal
mineralized water and salt-
affected soils for food-feed
crops and forage legumes
in the local, smallholder
crop-livestock farming
system
• Evaluation, domestication
and large-scale use of
halophytes and salt-tolerant
crops such as sorghum and
pearl millet
Farmers involved in on-farm seed multiplication trial of
sorghum in Tajikistan (K. Toderich, ICBA, 2012)

20. CONCLUSIONS
• Bottom-up Approaches for Development and Introduction
on Modern Bio-Remediation Technologies including
Aquaculture and Use of Marginal Water Resources Use
• Integrated approach for Soil Health management
• Rise awarness of policy makes; Institutional framework
and Legacy
• New Concept and Debates of Environment Policy
IMPLEMENTATION in CAC is needed to be developed.
• Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing