Land reclamation
Ensuring a high level of ameliorative condition and productivity of the existing irrigated lands is one of the most important objectives of the country's water management bodies, which are the main factor in increasing the efficiency of agricultural production, and on this basis, contribute to the improvement of the well-being of the population. The state enterprise "Control over the ameliorative condition and use of water" functions in the structure of the Agency.
To regulate the level of underground water and salt balance on irrigated lands the drainage network with a total length of 11,400 km was constructed, including 2.2 thousand km of inter-farm, 9.17 thousand km of intra-farm, of which 5.4 thousand km are an open network and 3.7 thousand km of a closed network. In addition, the territory of irrigated lands is serviced by 2,453 units of vertical wells, including 1,115 units of ameliorative vertical wells, 746 irrigation units and 174 observation units.
The observed irrigated area is 691.2 thousand hectares, the saline land, that under mapping makes 628.3 thousand hectares or 83%, and the lands provided with drainage - 329.2 hectares, or 43.7%, including 79.3 thousand hectares with closed drainage or 10.5%.
The change in ameliorative condition of lands is a process that is constantly on the move. If, on the one hand, to carry out periodically works to improve ameliorative condition of lands, and on the other hand, due to non-compliance with agrotechnical conditions, irrigation technology, not carrying out timely cleaning of intra-farm drainage networks, keeping drainage vertical wells and reclamation pumping stations in deteriorated conditions, not leaching salt in soils to use waste waters with increased salinity for irrigation, then the situation with annual deterioration of ameliorative land condition remains acute.
In order to improve the ameliorative condition of irrigated lands, increase productivity and efficiently use lands and obtain a high yield of agricultural crops during 1996 – 2015 on the area of 151.4 thousand hectares the reclamation works were carried out and the unsatisfactory ameliorative condition of agricultural irrigated lands was improved. In particular, it was improved within the framework of the Programs of improvement of the ameliorative condition of agricultural irrigated lands of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2000 - 2004 on the area of 30.6 thousand hectares, for 2005 – 2009 on the area of 60.2 thousand hectares, and in 2010 – 2014 on the area of 51.7 thousand hectares.
At the same time, based on the Agency's instructions in 2015 – 2016 the ameliorative condition of 18,400 hectares of agricultural land was improved from local budget resources and water supply services.
According to the land reclamation cadaster report as of January 1, 2017 the ameliorative condition of 39,580 hectares of land in the country, is unsatisfactory. In this regard in 2017 year was planned to improve 9937 hectares of reclamation lands. As a result, unsatisfactory ameliorative condition of agricultural irrigated lands on the area of 10,928 hectares has been improved.