A creative public-private joint venture for irrigation extension in Fergana valley of Central Asia

Abstract

A ‘farmer-centric’ innovative institutional mechanism, a public-private partnership, was created and 
strengthened, in the Fergana valley of Central Asia, for facilitating communication between farmers and 
researchers, and to disseminate knowledge on improved agronomic and irrigation management 
practices to improve water productivity at field level. As a result, yields of cotton from the twenty five 
demonstration sites in the three countries of Fergana valley - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – 
were, on the average, 28% higher than the average yield of cotton in the valley, suggesting that the 
proposed institutional mechanism was very effective in dissemination of information to farmers. Yields 
from neighboring farmers of demonstration fields were 14% higher than the average yields. In addition, 
demonstration site farmers used, on the average, 20% less water than the non-project farmers. Two 
independent external reviewers stated that this innovative public-private mechanism was very effective 
in disseminating information on improving water productivity at plot level to farmers, and suggested 
that the focus in the future should be on devising effective policy and economic instruments for 
financial sustainability of the innovation cycle after the donor support is withdrawn.