In the Uchkuprik district of the Fergana region, a meeting of metropolitan forestry scientists with the farmers of the valley took place, in the framework of which the village workers learned a lot of interesting and useful things about agroforestry.
The meeting of farmers with scientists of the Republican Scientific and Production Center for Ornamental Horticulture and Forestry (RSPC DS and LH) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan, representatives of the GEF Small Grants Program, the Council of Farmers of Uzbekistan and the Center for Support of Entrepreneurship and Farming of Uzbekistan was held on December 15, 2015. in the Uchkuprik region of the Fergana region. Scientists-foresters came to the Valley in order to familiarize farmers and farmers with agroforestry, talk about what practices currently exist, what benefits to farmers and the environment bring technologies in this area, and which of this is most relevant and realistically applicable in soil climatic conditions of the Fergana Valley. Preparation for this event was carried out in coordination with the Council of Farmers of Uzbekistan, whose employees once again provided the necessary support in the joint work.
The meeting was mainly attended by farmers from the districts of Fergana and Namangan regions, interested in new agricultural practices and technologies. The main purpose of the meeting was to familiarize local farmers and land users with such a concept in modern agricultural practice and forestry as agroforestry and modern methods of rational use of natural resources. Modern agriculture and food production is impossible without artificial irrigation. In the context of the growing shortage of irrigation water, the issues of its rational use are at the forefront. Abdulvohid Boltabaev, a former grantee of the PMGEF who organized the production of drip irrigation systems (DIS) adapted for the conditions of Uzbekistan, was among the participants in the meeting. He made a presentation and talked in detail about how, as a farmer, he grew cotton in the Namangan region, about the difficulties with irrigation and other problems that he faced while working on the poorest lands of the region. His personal experience and story generated great interest in the technology he was promoting and the trust of the farmers invited to the meeting. Drip irrigation, widely used in the global agricultural industry for many years, is one of the most effective irrigation techniques. Abdulvohid Boltabaev continues to produce DIS, which he designs for each farmer-customer on an individual turnkey project and currently the number of hectares of agricultural land on which his RMS is installed is approaching 1000.
So what is agroforestry, what is its purpose and what are the goals of doing it?
Agroforestry is the joint cultivation of trees and crops on the same area, without affecting the quality and productivity of the latter, i.e. deliberately combining agriculture and productive trees to create a sustainable management system. Agroforestry as an extensive area includes a number of modern technologies and practices.
Many local farmers grow trees that they use for the needs of their farm. They are well aware of how they will use the grown timber and what benefits the grown trees will bring, but not everyone knows and thinks about the benefits and benefits of such an activity in the long term for their lands? And how does field-protective afforestation affect the increase in the productivity of irrigated agriculture? Further, Evgeny Botman, Ph.D., employee of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for DS and LH, will tell us about this in detail.
The Republic of Uzbekistan is an industrial-agrarian country with a significant share of agriculture in the economy. The basis of agriculture, and, consequently, of the country's food security, is irrigated agriculture. However, more than 65% of irrigated arable land is subject to varying degrees of wind erosion, more than half of it is subject to secondary salinization due to the high level of saline groundwater. In recent years, the humus content in soils has decreased by 30-50%. About 40% of the area of all irrigated land is occupied by soils with a very low humus content (up to 1.0%). As a result, more and more irrigated lands go out of agricultural use due to the reclamation state.
These facts indicate that, being located in an arid zone, irrigated agriculture in Uzbekistan, at the current level of its development, cannot be considered sustainable. The reason for this is that irrigated arable land in the arid zone is an artificially created ecosystem that is not capable of self-regulation to maintain a constant level of soil fertility and therefore needs environmentally sound management decisions. One of these most effective approaches to the sustainable management of irrigated arable land is the creation of systems of field-protective forest belts,both the main structural element and other types of forest plantations, that is, the transformation of an agrarian landscape into a forest agrarian one.
The main mechanism by which forest belts improve conditions on protected fields is their wind-measuring effect - that is, a decrease in wind speed in the space between lanes. Wind speed affects all other microclimatic parameters of the territory (air humidity, air and soil temperature, etc.). In this case, it is important that the strips are located from each other at distances not exceeding their wind-measuring effect. It is equally important that this is precisely a system of interacting stripes.
Scientific research has determined that the higher the strip, the further the range of its influence extends, that is, for the minimum land allotment to the field protection strips, they must be created from high-trunked species (poplar, sycamore, elm, ash, willow, etc.). The relationship between the height of the strip and the range of its influence has been established. It is believed that this range is approximately equal to 20-25 times the height of the strip itself, i.e. the spacing should be 20-25H, where H is the height of the strip in meters.
The system of forest shelter belts means the complete coverage of a certain area with forest belts (1-4 rows) at a certain distance from each other in such a way that the wind-controlling effect of one strip is overlapped by the action of the other strip. The stripes should be located perpendicular to the main harmful winds and these stripes are called main. But, in view of the fact that the wind often changes direction, there must be auxiliary strips that provide protection from winds from other directions. Thus, the system of stripes looks like cells in the form of rectangles, the long side of which is the main stripes, and the short side is auxiliary.
By the selection of tree and shrub species and their placement in the strip, its structure is formed - dense, openwork or blown. The design, as well as the height of the strip, determines the range of its influence and some other characteristics of its functional features. Scientific research has determined that for the complete protection of irrigated arable land by the system of field-protective forest belts, it is sufficient to allocate about 3% of its territory, and partly forest belts will be located in the exclusion zones of the irrigation-drainage and road network.
Forest plantations on irrigated lands have a multifunctional effect, including:
1. They increase the productivity of agricultural crops by improving microclimatic conditions on the protected fields - a decrease in wind speed reaches 38-34%, which leads to an increase in the moisture content of the surface air layers up to 5-9%; a decrease in air temperature in summer to 10C, and soil temperature to 1.20C. Protective afforestation, improving the ecological situation of inter-strip fields, create more favorable conditions for the growth and development of agricultural plants, thereby causing an increase in their productivity. The increase in yield reaches up to 15-20%, while the quality of the crop, in particular the length of the fiber, also increases.
2. Forest stands provide habitat for natural pollinators. The presence of forest belts in the agricultural landscape provides the employment of pollinators with their direct function - pollination of plants. Pollinating flowering forest plantations, wild pollinators, along with domesticated pollinators (bees), have a huge impact on increasing crop yields.
3. A decrease in the wind speed on the protected fields leads to the cessation of wind erosion of the soil, that is, it stops the blowing out of the upper most fertile soil layer.
4. Under irrigation conditions, trees in protective forest belts accumulate a huge phytomass, including the phytomass of foliage. Therefore, tree crowns in summer transpire a huge amount of soil moisture, reducing the level of saline groundwater, and, consequently, reducing the likelihood of secondary soil salinization, that is, they exhibit bio-drainage properties.
5. The sanitary and hygienic properties of protective plantings are manifested in the fact that they retain on their foliage a huge amount of dust suspended in the air, thus purifying it. In addition, most trees, in particular poplars, secrete phytoncides from their foliage, which kill pathogens.
6. Forest plantations diversify the monotonous landscape of agricultural fields, significantly increasing its aesthetic appeal.
7. Often, forest plantations in oases are the only place suitable for recreation for the local population, that is, they exhibit a recreational function.
8. In the monotonous agrarian landscape of agricultural fields, forest plantations are sometimes the only refuge for wildlife, a hotbed of natural biodiversity. And the more diverse the ecosystem, the more sustainable it is.
9. Due to the high productivity of forest plantations under irrigated conditions, they are all capacious sinks of greenhouse gases and therefore are of global importance in mitigating climate change. Moreover, forexemplary management of irrigated forest plantations, they can be a source of extra-budgetary financing for forestry through the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol. Calculations show that 1 hectare of forest plantations annually precipitates about 4.48 tons of carbon, which corresponds to: 4.48 * 44/12 = 16.43 tons of CO2 from 1 hectare per year. With an average service life of protective forest belts of 30 years, the potential for carbon dioxide flow into protective plantations on irrigated arable land in Uzbekistan can be estimated at 16.43 t * 30 years = 492.9 t CO2 (or, in monetary terms, USD 2464.5 over 30 years or 82 USD annually at a price of 5 USD per 1 ton of CO2).
10. Despite the fact that forest plantations on irrigated lands are intended mainly for protective functions, they nevertheless have their own definite service life, after which they are subject to felling, stubbing and renewal. By this time, they accumulate a significant stock of wood (500-600 m3 / ha), including business and wood. With significant shortages and high wood prices, this function should also not be discounted.
11. In addition to shelter belts in rural areas, other types of forest plantations can be created that increase the roughness of the earth's surface, and therefore improve the microclimate: specialized forest plantations (mulberries - for feeding silkworms, poplar and other fast-growing species - for obtaining wood, landscaping in settlements, etc.).
In the 70s - 80s of the last century, there were about 40 thousand hectares of forest shelter belts in Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, recently, new systems of forest shelter belts have not been created, and the old ones have failed due to aging or were simply cut down. Land relations have changed dramatically. But the growth of the population and the tasks of raising the standard of living, food security pose the task of reviving field-protective afforestation in our country.
The transformation of an agrarian landscape into a forestry landscape leads to its qualitative improvement, mainly due to the stabilization of the level of soil fertility, which is, perhaps, the main national natural heritage.
The new Country Strategy of the GEF Small Grants Program in Uzbekistan for the next four years has prioritized the promotion of sustainable conservation agriculture in the country. The PMGEF is ready to support projects in this area, the results of which will constitute a model for sustainable management of natural resources and will allow preserving land fertility, preventing their degradation, and increasing the efficiency of agriculture by improving natural capital.
