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Protecting Family Farms from Desertification in Kyrgyzstan

Region: Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Author: Chernobyl Association of Nookat District
Consortium Member: Isar Central Asia
Status: Completed - Final Report Budget: $2310 Collected: $2310 Needs: $0
Result: To prevent desertification of 30 hectares of farmland and renew this land for families in Kyrgyzstan by returning water taken from them by other regional farms after the break up of the USSR.
Donors: Upper Mohawk Valley Model United Nations Conference at Hamilton College, New York [October 1998], with Virtual Foundation Matching Funds
Comment: The livelihood of two hundred families has been significantly improved, by providing them with a low-cost sustainable irrigation system.

Description of NGO:
The Chernobyl Association of the Nookat District of Kyrgyzstan was organized in March of 1995 with the mission to provide a means for Chernobyl victims of the area to live healthy, productive lives and to prevent the repetition of further ecological catastrophes. They have provided humanitarian assitance in the form of monetary assistance, have purchased land for Chernobyl victims, and have provided microcredit to Chernobyl victims for undertaking small private enterprises. They have worked under grants with the United Nations and other American foundations.

Project Goal:
To prevent desertification of 30 hectares of land and renew farmable land for family farms by returning the flow of the river to its natural course.

Project Summary:
The village of Nookat is located in south Kyrgyzstan. Villagers in the region rely on small family and community farms to provide staple foods .Until 1992, the area (the Kara Tupok region) received water from 3 sources: a tributary from the north, a tributary from the northeast, and a man made canal from the South. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, control over water resources was lost and other farmers living in nearby areas have diverted the flow of water from two of these sources for their own purposes. As a result , the Kara Tupok area is undergoing rapid degradation. The land has become unfarmable and a community of 200 families may lose their land to desertification.

The local government, faced with its own economic crisis, has been unable to resolve the matter in question. As a Non-Governmental Organization, the Chernobyl Association of the Nookat District, which includes the Kara Tupok lands, have devised a simple solution which would restore the viability of the land, give new life to its inhabitants and at the same time not adversely affect the other farmers who redirected the water flow for their personal gain.

Project Implementation:
The technical solution is very simple. By using a 150 kw pump (the minimum for providing water to the entire 30 hectares) and approximately 1 km of pipe, water which comes to the area from an existing man made canal in the south can be pumped back to the northern part of the Kara Tupok area into the natural stream beds which are now dry and thus allowed to again follow its natural course.

Once water is again flowing in these river beds, the area will again begin to come back to life. The inhabitants of the area will once again be able to grow crops and to feed their families.

Project Sustainability:
The Chernobyl Association and the residents of the area are not merely asking for money. In addition to the environmental and social implications, we have looked carefully at the economic situation as well. We have devised a system to make the project self-sustainable by charging water usage fees. Over the course of a single year, each family would pay approximately $12 for the right to use the water resources. This would be charged on an hourly rate . At the end of this year, our Association could either return this money to a generous donor who supplied the capital which is presently so desperately lacking or it could be used to further the causes of our association and in order to finance other similar projects. The families who now have no means to begin such a project would be able to grow crops and sell them in order to raise the money to pay for this project.

Project Budget:

Water Pump (150 kw)	$600
Water pipe ($1.50/meter x 1000 meters)	$1500
VF Administrative Cost	$210
Total	$2310