The Republic of Tajikistan intends to develop over 11,000 hectares of new irrigated lands and reclaim more than 5,000 hectares of arable land that has been removed from agricultural circulation by the end of 2027. A sum of 563 million somoni has been allocated for these purposes.
Long-term investments ranging from 50,000 to 70,000 somoni per hectare ($4,500-6,400 at today's exchange rate) are required for the development of new lands with the construction of corresponding infrastructure. For the restoration of each hectare of land that has been removed from agricultural circulation, 11,000 to 20,000 somoni ($1-$1.8 thousand) are needed.
The State Program provides a total amount of 541.8 million somoni ($49.5 million) for the development of new irrigated lands and 21.3 million somoni ($1.95 million) for land restoration.
Sources of financing include state and local budgets, revenue from industry services, and investments.
According to the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation of Tajikistan, it is planned to develop 3,410 hectares of new irrigated lands and restore 900 hectares that have been removed from agricultural circulation in 2024 alone.
It should be noted that the development of new lands and the restoration of lands removed from agricultural circulation, most of which are located in river valleys and mountain slopes, require significant material and financial investments.
The average cost of irrigating 1 hectare of land, depending on the region, ranges from $10,000 to $20,000. When considering the construction of large irrigation systems, even more funds will be required.
Tajikistan has a limited amount of land suitable for agriculture. Therefore, careful treatment of every piece of arable land is crucial for the country's development.
The total area of land suitable for irrigation in the Republic of Tajikistan is 1,570,000 hectares, of which approximately 763,000 hectares were irrigated as of 2024. Around 40% of these lands are irrigated using pumping stations, while saline lands make up 15% and stony lands 18%.
Currently, the access to irrigated lands per capita in the country is approximately 0.075 hectares, one of the lowest indicators in Central Asia. With the current demographic trends, the area of irrigated lands per capita is projected to decrease to 0.06 hectares by 2030, which will negatively impact food security in the country.
Unreasonable land use and unsatisfactory condition of irrigation systems have significantly reduced the productivity of water-land resources. Excessive water use has led to waterlogging and soil salinization in several regions of the country.
Due to the unsatisfactory state of land reclamation, there is a risk of re-salinization of 310,000 hectares of land. This situation in the coming years may lead to the removal of even more irrigated lands from agricultural circulation. Therefore, restoration activities, along with the development of new lands, are one of the urgent tasks of land management in Tajikistan.
According to the World Bank, water use in irrigated agriculture in Tajikistan is particularly wasteful, with the efficiency of mechanical irrigation often not exceeding 30% of the water volume taken from the water source.
Some experts mention that water supply is unstable due to unplanned power outages at pumping stations. For example, in 2023, pumping stations throughout the country failed 130 times due to sudden power outages or voltage fluctuations.
According to the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation, the damage to the water sector solely due to electricity disruptions amounted to over 1 million somoni in 2023.
As a result of the Program implementation, it is planned to develop 11,321 hectares of new irrigated lands, including 1,771 hectares funded by the state budget, 9,550 hectares through investment state projects, internal and external direct investments. Additionally, 5,580 hectares of land removed from agricultural circulation will be restored using funds from the state budget, local budgets, and industry service revenues, which will attract a total of 16,901 hectares of irrigated lands to agricultural production.
The implementation of this Program is expected to create an average of 64,000 new jobs (based on up to 4 people per hectare) for the rural population of the country.
These benevolent intentions of the government regarding the expansion of arable lands seem achievable if pumping stations are modernized and receive a continuous supply of the required amount of electricity for water distribution to the newly developed lands.
