US Agricultural Technologies and its Benefits for Uzbek Farmers (June 6th, 2014)

Agriculture has been a vital source of wealth for Uzbekistan for centuries. The country of nearly 30 million people is situated between two major rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, making the land between them fertile for agriculture. Since Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991, the country has relied on agriculture to meet nutritional and income generation needs of its people, and nearly one third of Uzbeks are employed in the agricultural sector in some capacity. The industry contributes to about 70% of internal trade in Uzbekistan and 20-30% of GDP.

Wheat and cotton are two of the most widely planted crops in Uzbekistan, both of which rely on irrigated land to grow successfully. The most common irrigation system in Uzbekistan is the furrow and flood method, which is highly water intensive. Unfortunately, this use of water is causing a deficit in the Aral Sea and the major rivers flowing from it, the Amy Darya and the Syr Darya. Insufficient water flows to the deltas of these rivers causes nutrient depletion in soils, soil salinization, loss of agricultural land and poor water quality. All of these problems caused by excessive water use will have a negative effect on the livelihoods of those living in rural communities, lead to environmental degradation, and undermine Uzbekistan’s agricultural industry-and thereby the country’s economy-in the long-term.

Fortunately, US agricultural technology engineers developed more efficient irrigation systems for American farmers who were facing similar problems. Farmers in the United States used contour furrowing from the 1930s until the 1970s as the primary system of irrigation. A study found, however, that contour furrowing and similar systems were not always beneficial to crop growth, especially in arid climates. By 1978, 35% of farms had introduced sprinkler irrigation systems, which needed less water than the traditional furrow irrigation systems that had been used for decades. Like the American Southwest, Uzbekistan has an arid climate, and can benefit from adopting sprinkler irrigation technologies which were found to be better suited to arid climates and to use less water than furrow and flood methods.

Since 1978, engineers in the United States have developed even more advanced irrigation methods that lead to higher crop yields and use even less water than do sprinkler systems. Drip and subsurface irrigation systems, in addition to sprinkler systems, all lead to higher crop yields than does the traditional furrow method. In addition, these newer systems are more efficient because they apply water to only a precise area surrounding the plant root, thereby conserving water. Micro sprinklers were found to operate at 95% efficiency, compared to the 60% efficiency of furrow and flood irrigation.

Although U.S. high efficiency systems were developed for large-scale farms, development organizations have been reinventing this technology to make it suitable and economically accessible for smallholding farmers in developing countries. For example, a drip irrigation kit of a style from the 1990s was available to farmers in India for approximately $32. New and improved models are even cheaper, at $14.5 per unit. The net return after installation of the newer drip system was $32, amortizing the investment in just one harvest.

In addition to transitioning to more efficient irrigation systems, water management and delivery systems can be improved to reduce water usage. The United States is moving toward small-scale, localized water facilities from large, central facilities that are expensive and often fail to accurately estimate future needs. This decentralized approach in combinations with more efficient irrigation systems previously discussed will allow farmers to produce higher yield crops using less water.

The establishment of bio-energy crops in marginal or degraded land may offer enhanced environmental benefits for countries such as Uzbekistan, including protection from soil erosion and nutrient leaching and improvement of soil properties. Of particular interest is the use of bio-energy crops as a vegetative filter to purify wastewater effluents applied to the soil. This practice is known as land treatment systems (LTS) or slow rate systems (RSRS) and meets both environmental and renewable bio-energy goals in the United States. Effluent can supply bio-energy crops with considerable amounts of water and nutrients which stimulate plant growth and yield. In addition, effluent application can reduce the competition between bio-energy crops and traditional crops with respect to the use of fresh water and it can also decrease production costs due to substitution of water and fertilizers. The effects of plan species such as castor bean v. sunflower and irrigation on soil properties and on seed and biodiesel yield were studied in a 3 year trial in the United States. As castor bean achieved greater seed yield that sunflower, the findings of the study suggested that wastewater effluent can constitute an important source of irrigation, water and nutrients for bio-energy crop cultivation with very minor adverse impacts on soil properties and seed yield.

Ethanol is another kind of technology that provides a vital value added market for corn and other commodities in rural America. Demand created by ethanol production increases the price a farmer receives for grain. Because growers are getting more output per acre than ever before, less land is needed to satisfy demand for food, feed and fuel. One third of every bushel of grain processed into ethanol is enhanced and returned to the animal feed market in the form of distillers grains, corn gluten feed or corn gluten meal. Ethanol production does not reduce the amount of food available for human consumption. An increasing amount of ethanol is produced from non-traditional feed stocks such as waster products from the beverage, food and forestry industries. In the very near future, expect to see ethanol produced from agricultural residues such as rice, straw, sugar cane bagasse and corn stover, municipal solid waste and energy crops such as switch grass. Finally, by increasing the demand for corn and raising corn prices, ethanol has helped to lower federal farm program costs in the United States.

Another new technology to consider involves bio-solids. Bio-solids are nutrient rich organic materials resulting from the treatment of sewage sludge which is the name for solid, semi-solid or liquid untreated residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage in a treatment facility. When treated and processed, sewage sludge becomes bio-solids which can be safely recycled and applied as fertilizer to sustainably improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth. In the United States, only bio-solids that meet the most stringent standards spelled out in the Federal and State rules can be approved for use as a fertilizer. Today in the United States, because, of improved wastewater treatment, our waterways have been cleaned up and made safer for recreation and seafood harvest.

Lime effectively treats sewage bio-solids as well as industrial sludges and petroleum wastes. Treatment of biological wastes with lime is based on several chemical reactions. Calcium hydroxide is an alkaline component that can create PH levels as high as 12.4. At PH levels greater than 12 and increased temperatures, cell membranes of harmful pathogens are destroyed. The high PH also provides a vector attraction barrier preventing flies and other insects from infecting treated biological waste. Because lime has low solubility in water, lime molecules persist in bio-solids to prevent re-growth of pathogens. When quick lime is used with water, an exothermic reaction occurs. As heat is released, the temperature of the biological waste can increase to 70 degrees Celsius which provides effective pasteurization. The high PH also will precipitate most metals present in the waste and reduce solubility and mobility. Lime will also react with phosphorus compounds to prevent eutrophication. In general, lime stabilization is a non-proprietary process although patented processes are available.

This leads to my final point that there must be strong emphasis placed on protection of intellectual property regarding agricultural technologies to ensure that companies who wish to share their technology with Uzbek companies feel confident that their technology will not be reverse engineered in the mistaken belief that what is being done is innovation. I was pleased at the response that I received from Director Salikhov, during my meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, as he and the Government of Uzbekistan appear to recognize the importance of this issue which is key to promoting successful business partnerships between Uzbek and American companies in promoting innovative technologies in the fields of agriculture.