Drip irrigation technology introduced in Kushtepa district

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Kushtepa district, where he got acquainted with the technology of drip irrigation of cotton.

Cultivating land in central Fergana is a laborious process. Especially in Kushtepa district, 70 percent of the territory of which is land with low fertility. Accordingly, the indicators of crop cultivation were also low.

During his visit to Fergana region in 2019, the Head of the state ordered the introduction of drip irrigation in such areas.

Today, a project based on this technology is being implemented by Fergana Global Textile cluster in cooperation with the Israeli company Netafim.

At the first stage, drip irrigation was introduced on 215 hectares. For this, an artificial reservoir with a volume of 17 thousand cubic meters was built and 3 vertical wells were drilled. Modern equipment worth $520 thousand is installed. With this technology, 60 hectares of cotton fields can be irrigated simultaneously.

The effect of the technology is tangible. Thus, the consumption of water, fertilizers and fuel was reduced by half, the cost of mechanization was reduced by nine times. 10 young agronomists have been trained to effectively operate the new system.

The President got acquainted with the drip irrigation process and talked with the staff.

“The soil here is sandy, there is a constant lack of water. However, the approach to work here was the same as elsewhere. Therefore, it was unprofitable to engage in agriculture in the district. For example, 10-12 centners of cotton were harvested per hectare. And 45 centners are expected this year. All this is the result of a scientific approach. You can!” the President said.

At the second stage of the project, it is planned to introduce drip irrigation on 1.2 thousand hectares. According to experts, the technology will fully recoup the costs in two seasons.

A conversation was held with media representatives.