Presented by IWMI Soumya Balasubramanya (Researcher – Environmental Economics) to a group of European Union (EU) delegations in Asia at a discussion on 'Using research on agriculture climate and water to support sustainable food systems', held at IWMI Headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on June 8, 2016.

1. Enhancing productivity, food security, and equity in Tajikistan
through improved irrigation services
Soumya Balasubramanya, Marie-Charlotte Buisson, Panchali Saikia,
Katherine McDonald, Sohrob Aslamy, Ted Horbulyk, David Wiberg

2. USAID-commissioned research project
• Research duration: 2014-18; Budget: USD 1.5 m
– USAID Feed the Future Program created WUAs in S.
Tajikistan from 2010-14
– FTF is now supporting development of National
Policy for WUAs
• Two purposes for this commissioned research:
– Providing evidence to USAID for policy-making:
• Examine improvements in irrigation service delivery AND
agricultural productivity justify supporting WUAs
– Filling in knowledge gaps for guiding USAID’s future
policies and investments in agricultural value chains

3. Tajikistan: a brief background
• 70% of people live in rural areas; 49% below the
poverty line
• Agriculture: 46% of employment; only 21% of GDP 
scope to increase productivity and reduce poverty
• Soviet days: collective farms irrigated by Vodkhoz;
cultivated cotton (district irrigation department)
• After independence: collectives broken into dekhan
plots; but water management body to distribute
water between farms

4. Evolution of WUAs
• WUAs created to fill in the gap: primarily serve
dekhan farms; but also provide water to homestead
gardens
• USAID Feed the Future (2011-14)
– 12 districts of Khatlon
– 60 WUAs on gravity schemes
– Other WUAs created by government
– Encouraging farmers to diversify

5. Preliminary results for strengthening WUAs
• USAID WUAs improved irrigation services for dekhan
farms
• Improved timeliness of water delivery
• Reduced conflicts between farms served by the same canal
• USAID WUAs may be bringing about modest
improvements in productivity and diversification for
dekhan farms
– More crops per year grown on farms
– Crop yield impacts are mixed
• To increase resilience of WUAs:
– Resolve R & M division between stakeholders
– Clarify nature, levy, purpose of irrigation fees; WUA fees

6. Preliminary results for future investments and policy
• To support USAID’s goal of improving market linkages beyond
cotton
– Crops for sale are mostly high-value (fruits, vegetables); crops for self
consumption mostly staples (wheat)
– Increase number of input suppliers
– Increase types of inputs available (seed, fertilizer)
– Improve extension services
– Design output markets that provide fair prices without increasing
transaction costs
• To enable irrigation services to be responsive to changing
conditions
– Meeting the requirements of female farmers
– Mainstreaming irrigation for multiple production systems.

7. Publications
• Soumya Balasubramanya, Marie-Charlotte Buisson, Panchali Saikia,
Katherine MacDonald, Sohrob Aslamy, Ted Horbulyk, Corrie Hannah,
Murat Yakubov and Alexander Platonov. May 2016. Impact of Water
Users Associations on Water and Land Productivity, Equity and Food
Security in Tajikistan. Baseline Technical Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka:
International Water Management Institute.
• Marie-Charlotte Buisson, Katherine MacDonald, Panchali Saikia, Soumya
Balasubramanya, Sohrob Aslamy, Ted Horbulyk. May 2016. Impact of
Water Users Associations on Water and Land Productivity, Equity and
Food Security in Tajikistan. Mid-term Technical Report. Colombo, Sri
Lanka: International Water Management Institute.
• Contact: Dr. Soumya Balasubramanya s.balasubramanya@cgiar.org