To get to the Fergana Valley, you need to jump over the Kamchik mountain pass. At high altitudes the air is clear, near the meadows, the greenery of the slopes is bright. The Fergana Valley is pear-shaped. It is crossed by the Syrdarya streams and canals. We start at the pass and see the edges of the “pear” - an empty steppe where water doesn’t reach. Water shortages are felt in the summer heat and near waterways. Drip irrigation is said to solve the problem. We will watch.

The neighbors were surprised

Neighbors were shocked in 2009 when Abdulvahid Boltaboyev decided to set up a drip irrigation system on his Jamoliddin-Sardor Hamkor farm. It is common to pour water in irrigation ditches, where pumps pump water from the canal. But tradition also has its drawbacks. Rising - Groundwater rises and carries salt. Once the wheat is harvested, the water supply is drastically reduced and then the water does not reach the final parts. If there is a shortage, the neighbors try to keep it secret from each other, quarreling. As a result, the struggle for the harvest ends with very modest results. In any case, it is the same in the remote areas along the old river in the Uychin district of Namangan province, which are distributed to farmers. The river changed its direction a long time ago, leaving only rocks. The cars that took them out of the field were innumerable. And yet, everything is not collected and removed, the quality of the land is low. Here the soil quality is thirty out of a possible hundred points. "It's not the right place to experiment." But he was of a different opinion. Two drip irrigation systems were tested on five hectares of cotton fields. He feared the water would be cloudy and instantly trap the emitter droplets, and he, according to engineering, secured the sediment tanks. In the fall, when the neighbors were at most twenty, I harvested 38 quintals of cotton per hectare.

After harvesting, he went to China to study the experience of drip irrigation, while also getting acquainted with the production. I really thought about my neighbors. Imported systems are expensive to purchase. If you buy equipment from China and start manufacturing from local raw materials in Uichi, that’s another matter. Finally, I bought it and in 2012 started manufacturing the systems. Now it is participating in a state tender. Competitors have systems that cost $ 4,000 per hectare for a garden, and Abdulvahid's, which is twice as cheap as a soum.

When companions tell the story of a fan of drip irrigation from Uichi, the story sounds like a fairy tale. And I set up drip irrigation and went to China at my own expense. I chose the equipment and traded. Then he had to solve thousands of other problems, from getting a $ 92,000 loan from a bank, to buying and delivering equipment, to renting and repairing buildings, to buying raw materials. And everything happened.

"He has ideas, people like that make life move!" - My colleagues in the Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Program in Uzbekistan think so. They are also involved in the development of drip irrigation in the Fergana Valley. Combating land degradation and conserving water are among the program's priorities. I want to get a loan when Boltaboev “knocks” on his project, but support is needed to develop production, PMGEF staff came to see how drip irrigation works in his field.

appreciated. Water and mineral fertilizers are saved, electricity consumption is reduced by half. Crops ripen early and yields are high. There are other benefits that people need to be convinced of.

How can people be persuaded of privileges so that they don’t surprise but do it? Abdulvahid suggested that one hectare be given free of charge to farmers and dehkan farms across the country for at least 20 hectares, and that a system be introduced in them. If women farmers apply, they will be provided with 10 to 3 hectares of land free of charge. This three-year project was supported by the GEF Small Grants Program.

Greenhouses on the hills

We will pass through Namangan, and a few kilometers later - Uychi, where Abdulvahid will join us.

- You are an engineer by education, but how do you manage to work successfully on the ground?

- My father was an agronomist. He left a lot of special literature. In 1968, he was the first in Uzbekistan to introduce drip irrigation on one hectare of an orchard. He burned holes in the hose with a nail and inserted a button, and it dripped from it. As a boy, he took me several times to this field. He said: “Look, son, how the system works. Drip irrigation is the future. " Why was it limited to a hectare? He was a good organizer and was directed to create new state farms. Now one, then the other, then the third. And this time the same way. Drip irrigation was not in demand, because there was enough water. The Toktogul reservoir operated in irrigation mode. Everything that accumulated during the winter went to the fields in the summer. When the Union collapsed, a lot has changed. Both the Toktogul regime and my profession. He became a farmer, took a land of 70 hectares. When plants need water, there is very little of it. I remembered what my father told me about drip irrigation.

The car drives along the northern Namangan canal, from which water is supplied to the region. There is water in the canal, but it is not a fact that it will be enough during the peak of the growing season. We see how pumps installed along the canals pump water to fields located on hilly adyrs. Adyrs are made of gravel, and irrigation of such fields in the usual way through irrigation ditches requires a lot of water. The slopes are painted with green wheat, brown arable land, there is a vineyard, here is a garden.

We roll for another kilometer along the road, when, finally, Abdulvohid Boltaboev shows: "Look, there are the greenhouses." They are somewhere on the hill. White plastic accordions, apparently, each fifty meters long. We call in to them among the onion plantations and slow down under the trees by the barrel. A ton of water in it is just enough for one irrigation. Ditch water is pumped into it, here it settles, and then it flows down the pipe by gravity into the greenhouses.

We fall for them too. The windows and doors of the greenhouse are open. The host Nosirjon Sayfullaev invites you to enter. In one - cucumbers on the bushes, in the other - tomatoes. Tomatoes are still green, but cucumbers are ripe. They all hung a pimple in a gang. And among the “taste buds”, sweat rolls their faces across the hail: hot and humid in the greenhouse under the film.

Nosirjon's first greenhouse last year formed. I watered the roofing material for three days, drilling holes in it. The water didn't reach the back rows, and the bushes were overgrown. I turned to Abdul Wahid for advice. And he offered to take part in the project. The cost of drip irrigation has been calculated and the systems were installed in the spring of this year. Now it takes three to four hours to water. "The sun will pass and you will see." But there is no time to wait for the sun to set. Please turn on the water. First, it runs along the main pipe. It passes through hoses. The greenhouse consists of 11 rows, with hoses on either side of each bed. Between the holes - 30 centimeters. The farm has a total area of two hectares. Here and onions, and garden and melon. There are currently two greenhouses, but Nosirjon plans to plant new seedlings in September to harvest tomatoes and cucumbers before the new year. “I bring a five-ton barrel to insure. Water consumption is now less, less labor costs. My dream is drip irrigation on the whole farm "

The price is affordable

We don’t have time to watch the panorama from the porch. Clouds cast shadows on the slopes. In dry soil, onions underfoot are tall and undoubtedly environmentally friendly. A blue engine by the stream, a ton of barrels, and our car there. What's next in the program? Production of drip systems and limonarium. Both facilities are located in the car-tractor park of Uychin district.

Entering the MTP, we see an old tractor at the base, which is the first. Well, modern in technology, but there is no time to admire it. The main interest is a new technological direction. To achieve this, Abdulvahid Boltaboev overcame several obstacles. When I first came to Agrobank, I brought a brochure. I wanted to convince you why you need a loan for drip irrigation. A picture of the drying Aral Sea is shown. "The problem isn't yours" - "Whose?" "No money." I changed my business plan three times, which lasted a year. When I finally got the paperwork, I wrote to the Attorney General. After verification, credit was obtained. I paid for the purchase. Renovated in a rented workshop. Equipment adjusters came from China to assemble and train the equipment. Here's how engineering can help a farmer.

There are six people in his shop, but if you increase the volume, you can work in three shifts of eight people. We go to the far end of the workshop, where the process begins. Boltaboev explains about raw materials. - Now I buy raw materials through the stock exchange in "Shortangaz". But without an intermediary, directly, raw materials are cheaper and products are cheaper. I write a letter, assuring that it is better for the buyers. One hectare of garden requires 330 kg of raw materials or 2,500 meters of hose. We process 500 tons of raw materials a year and supply 1,500 hectares with hoses. Drip irrigation will play an important role in the State Program for Improving the Reclamation of Irrigated Lands and Rational Use of Water Resources for 2013-2017. Lower the price "...

We observe how the blue hose is wrapped around the drum. 14 meters per minute, 840 meters per hour. Boltaboev came up with a blue supplement to make the products different. The plastic is sun-resistant, lasts five years, but the engineer has found a solution to increase its elasticity, and he speaks of it with pride. He also talks about how the workshop rent is calculated: on drip systems, because there is a limonarium next to the workshop.

Bahrom Rasulov, the director of Uychinsky, introduces us to him:

"We installed a 250-meter pipe." The area of the lemonade is more than ten acres. He has been with us for six years. Drip irrigation was carried out in the spring of this year. We see that it is efficient, saves water. We want to build three more lemonades. This year we start. We immediately plan with drip irrigation. We will dig an artesian well and install additional water tanks to have fifteen tons of reserves. We have 80 trees, three times as many. It's good!

As we say goodbye, we wish everyone not to get tired. And yet, there is still a question for the farm engineer: how did you find the name of the farm? "His father's name was Jamoliddin, and his son's name was Sardor." The father helped, the son helped. And he has ideas that move life. ”

Natalya SHULEPINA