Egamberdiev O., Eshtchanov R., Ibragimov N., Akramkhanov A., Volkov A.
It is well known that cropping in Uzbekistan is irrigated agriculture based and that 90-95% of all the crop harvest comes exactly from such areas. There are several agro-technical practices used for crops growing, one of which is land leveling. The main purpose of using land leveling in agriculture is smoothing out some of the land unevennesses that prevent irrigation and mechanical agro-technical practices on inclined field areas.
Nowadays our dehkans and farmers are well aware that smooth field surface is one of the factors resulting in effective soil usage, even field irrigation, soil reclamation, abundant harvest and increase in economical efficiency. It also simplifies the mechanical works performed, cuts down the energy spending and increases the labor efficiency. Land leveling shifts field elevations to lowerings. Land leveling is performed with a tractor and a special leveling equipment (with either a long or short base): the elevations of the field are "cut" and are then moved to the field lowering.
According to the conversations with the farmers, traditional leveling could still leave a field incline of 10-15 cm. Naturally, traditional leveling could not be performed with a better precision.
At a glance the surface of the field undergone traditional leveling does not vary much, or it may seem well evened out. In fact the waste of water would be 1000-1500 cubic meters per hectare, as the areas of the field that are 10-15 cm elevated require irrigation as well.
Irrigation of 100 hectares of the field may cause a waste of 100.000-150.000 cubic meters of water due to unevenness in the field surface. Besides, as an example, pump irrigation of a field at a cost of 1 soum per cubic meter of water wasted will result in 100.000-150.000 soms for the excess of water used. This amount may actually be higher if the waste of time as well as the cost of diving a 1 hectare field into 4-5 smaller plots of land are also taken into consideration.
The most important factor is the effect the excess of water may have on the soil reclamation. For instance, if the water mineralization is very low or is 0.5 grams per litre, the amount of salt carried into the soil with the excess water will be 500-750 kilos. Apart from that, the water excess raises the level of groundwater which also causes increase in soil salinization. That has an adverse effect on the crop harvest yields.
In the past years when the lack of water due to the global climate changes as well as population growth has become obvious, an increase in the daily demand for agricultural produce calls for a more effective and rational use of Uzbekistan fields.
Thus, one of the most actual tasks irrigated agriculture is facing is integration of the new innovative technology that provides precise leveling of the fields surfaces. In irrigated agriculture that would be the use of laser land leveling.
The laser land leveling is also widely practiced in building and highway construction, evening out the farmlands, construction of irrigation channels, drainage and collectors.
The Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Programme is the leader in spreading this technology in the country's agriculture. With the help of this program the technology is now widely used in farms of Karakalpakstan republic, Xorazm, Samarkand, Qashqadaryo and Namangan provinces.
The practical study of laser land leveling proved this technology to have several advantages.
First, it helps achieve a 20-25% saving of irrigation water.
Second, it increases water use efficiency.
Third, 1 hectare of agriculture land yields extra 5-7 centners of crop harvest.
Fourth, the extra harvest increases economic efficiency by 15-20%. Meanwhile, the irrigation water helps:
prevent unnecessary soil salinization;
Laser land leveling requires following certain rules. More information on this subject can be obtained online (www.sgp.uz; www.krass.uz). The fields that benefited from laser land leveling are suitable not only for crop growing, but in addition to that - vegetables and melons.
To conclude, with no exaggeration we state that "Laser land leveling is a guarantee of water savings, greater harvest and extra profit".
References:
Scientific research and development of ZEF/ UNESCO project on sustainable development of land and water resources in Xorazm province.
Development of ZEF/UNESCO project on efficient use of land and water resources "Innovations in agriculture". Urgench 2012.
"Laser land leveling manual". Urgench 2012
