Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has announced measures to promote water conservation and efficient use among farmers. This initiative comes in response to criticism from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev about the slow adoption of water-saving technologies, which has resulted in annual water losses of 40% in certain regions.
To address this issue, the ministry has set a goal to install water-saving technologies on 50% of the country’s irrigated land by 2030. This will help save up to 2.1 cubic kilometers of water annually. In order to achieve this objective, subsidies for drilling irrigation wells have been increased to cover 80% of their costs, while work is underway to raise subsidies for water-saving system installations to 80% of their costs in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture.
As part of the new Water Code, the government will offer subsidies and reduced tariffs for water supply based on the adoption of water-saving technologies. Tariffs for irrigation water will now be calculated according to the types of crops grown and the volume of water needed for their production.
In addition, the ministry is working to digitize 3,500 km of irrigation canals in southern regions such as Almaty, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda, and Turkestan. This will improve water metering on 362 thousand hectares of irrigated land and potentially save up to 600 million cubic meters of water annually. These efforts aim to enhance water efficiency in agricultural practices and reduce water losses in Kazakhstan.
Overall, these measures demonstrate a commitment from the Kazakh government to promote sustainable agriculture and conserve natural resources for future generations.