Adapting agricultural water use to climate change in a post-Soviet context: challenges and opportunities in southeast Kazakhstan

The convergence of climate change and post-Soviet socio-economic and institutional transformations has been underexplored so far, as have the consequences of such convergence on crop agriculture in Central Asia. This paper provides a place-based analysis of constraints and opportunities for adaptation to climate change, with a specific focus on water use, in two districts in southeast Kazakhstan. Data were collected by 2 multi-stakeholder participatory workshops, 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews, and secondary statistical data. The present-day agricultural system is characterised by enduring Soviet-era management structures, but without state inputs that previously sustained agricultural productivity. Low margins of profitability on many privatised farms mean that attempts to implement integrated water management have produced water users associations unable to maintain and upgrade a deteriorating irrigation infrastructure. Although actors engage in tactical adaptation measures, necessary structural adaptation of the irrigation system remains difficult without significant public or private investments. Market-based water management models have been translated ambiguously to this region, which fails to encourage efficient water use and hinders adaptation to water stress. In addition, a mutual interdependence of informal networks and formal institutions characterises both state governance and everyday life in Kazakhstan. Such interdependence simultaneously facilitates operational and tactical adaptation, but hinders structural adaptation, as informal networks exist as a parallel system that achieves substantive outcomes while perpetuating the inertia and incapacity of the state bureaucracy. This article has relevance for critical understanding of integrated water management in practice and adaptation to climate change in post-Soviet institutional settings more broadly

Assessing the Economic Viability of Organic Cotton Production in Uzbekistan: A First Look

Cotton in Uzbekistan is produced in rotation with winter wheat and rice according to national quotas. Production methods are unsustainable, economically and ecologically risky, contributing to soil degradation, water depletion, and poor health. To address this challenge, we compared a conventional production system with an integrated organic system in Western Uzbekistan. Results reveal higher profits under an organic farming system. Combined with policies to improve the existing cotton value chain, organic cotton production could result in higher revenue while reducing pressure on the environment and improving livelihoods.</p

Farm Restructuring and Land Consolidation in Uzbekistan: New Farms with Old Barriers

In this article we investigate the potential for and limitations of land consolidation as a tool for rural development in transitional environments, focusing on the Khorezm region in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. We frame our analysis in a broader evaluation of land consolidation as a tool for economic development based on European experiences. It is argued that both the European tradition and the Uzbek case indicate that land consolidation as an isolated measure may trigger many unfavourable side-effects, and that in a transitional environment it requires even more careful tailoring of measures and embedding in various institutional settings

Farm Restructuring and Land Consolidation in Uzbekistan: New Farms with Old Barriers

In this article we investigate the potential for and limitations of land consolidation as a tool for rural development in transitional environments, focusing on the Khorezm region in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. We frame our analysis in a broader evaluation of land consolidation as a tool for economic development based on European experiences. It is argued that both the European tradition and the Uzbek case indicate that land consolidation as an isolated measure may trigger many unfavourable side-effects, and that in a transitional environment it requires even more careful tailoring of measures and embedding in various institutional settings

Technological Innovation for the Sustainability of Knowledge and Natural Resources: Case of the Choco Andino Biosphere Reserve

The management of natural resources has multiple challenges, such as covering the needs of a population that is estimated to exceed nine billion people by 2050, Therefore, the need for a digital evolution in agriculture that meets the needs of a world population in the future is identified The objective was: evaluate the sustainability of natural resources as a contribution towards the technological innovation of agriculture; the snowball sampling technique was used, in four productive systems: mixed, agroecological, indigenous y conventional, located in the transition and buffer zones of the Choco Andino Biosphere Reserve, SAFA evaluation framework (FAO) was used. The data were collected through a semistructured interview based on a questionnaire of 117 questions; the interview lasted 75–85 min conducted to the heads of household In the results were evidence of the 12 case of studies and the different sustainability dynamics in the dimensions: good governance, economic residence, environmental integrity and social welfare. The similar characteristic between case studies was the precarious capacity to govern natural resources, which strengthens the importance of intervention with a digital literacy process to improve management capacity