The relationship between society and nature is a complex and changeable process. The more humanity uses the resources of nature, the greater its impact on the environment. Currently, modern society is faced with the goal of preserving natural resources today and preventing negative consequences in the future. The priority tasks are to provide the growing population of the planet with food by achieving a high yield of agricultural crops, to maximize economic benefits, while maintaining ecological balance. To achieve sustainable development, it is important to use innovative resource-saving technologies, including in agriculture.
The land leveling technology with the help of a laser installation can be attributed to the epithet that “everything new is a well-forgotten old”. Laser leveling was practiced in the development of new irrigated lands in Central Asia during the Soviet Union. With the rapid development of technology in the world, installations using laser beams have become used in many areas of life due to their efficiency and availability. Recently, many adapted models have appeared aimed at solving various problems.
So, in agriculture, it is innovative to use a laser device for leveling (leveling) the land in order to reduce water consumption, reduce the time for watering, and obtain uniform and friendly plant shoots. The advantages of this innovative technology over traditional land planning is to save 15-20% of irrigation water and increase the overall efficiency of water use, as well as increase productivity by 5-7 centners.
The Small Grants Program of the Global Environment Facility has been supporting the Khorezm Agro-Advisory Center (KRASS) since 2009 in the implementation of the project “Dissemination of resource-saving technologies for sustainable development of agriculture in the Khorezm region”. Within the framework of this project, on May 17-18, 2010, in cooperation with the German-Uzbek project ZEF/UNESCO, KRASS conducted another training seminar and field days at the demonstration sites of two Water Users Associations (WUAs) - WUA “Ashirmat”, Kushkupyr district, and WUA “ Amir Temur” Urgench region. The event was attended by representatives of regional and district farmers' associations, water user associations, employees of the regional department of agriculture and water management, as well as heads of farms.
Rector of Urgench State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Eshchanov R.A. and director of NNO KRASS, doctor of agricultural sciences, professor Ibragimov N.M. made presentations on the methods of implementation and the results of this project and development in the future. A specialist in resource-saving technologies, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences O. Egamberdiev, demonstrated the operation of a laser planner in the field and spoke about the technical and environmental advantages of this equipment. KRASS employees also demonstrated to the participants of the event the economic calculations for the acquisition of a laser planner, as well as the economic benefits of using it in agricultural production. Participants received answers to their questions.
