Land Resources of Kyrgyzstan
The climatic features dictate the development of agricultural sectors and farming with a high level of irrigation. The landscapes of the low semi-closed basins — Fergana, Chui, Talas — have been almost completely transformed into cultivated landscapes. Here, viticulture, horticulture, melon growing, and vegetable growing are well developed, with all cotton, tobacco, rice plantations and major areas of grain and technical crops concentrated. Rainfed and semi-rainfed farming is associated with high risks due to climate instability, which is a reason for the economic instability of the region. The solution to the problem of sustainable economic development lies in increasing the share of irrigated agriculture and the non-agricultural sector.
The increasing involvement of land in intensive use — for arable land, especially irrigated, as well as some socio-economic factors have led to the development of many negative phenomena. Large areas of agricultural land are in unsatisfactory condition.
The main problems of land resource pollution in Kyrgyzstan are the reduction of soil fertility due to progressive salinization and alkalization, overmoistening and waterlogging of land, wind and water erosion, stone contamination, and degradation of pasture lands. As a result of erosion and the absence of necessary doses of organic fertilizers, the loss of humus by plants from the arable horizon has amounted to between 20% and 45%, and its content in the soil currently does not exceed 2.5%. Under these conditions, the yield of agricultural crops directly depends on the amount of mineral fertilizers applied.
The total area of land subject to erosion is 6,435 thousand hectares. Of these, arable land — 770 thousand hectares, pastures — 4,546.7 thousand hectares, hayfields — approximately 87 thousand hectares. Water erosion, which also leads to the pollution of water sources, has affected 54 thousand hectares of arable land. Soil salinization, caused by improper and irrational irrigation, has taken 80 thousand hectares of agricultural land out of circulation.
According to the land cadastre data, there are 1,170.4 thousand hectares of land with varying degrees of salinity in the republic. The area of waterlogged land is increasing due to the malfunction of collector-drainage networks. The area of solonetz soils is 469 thousand hectares. Stony soils occupy 3,808 thousand hectares, including strongly stony soils — 836 thousand hectares.
The limitation of land resources, the deterioration of the meliorative state of the land combined with population growth has led to a persistent trend of decreasing productive areas per capita.
With the increase in population and systematic alienation of land for non-agricultural needs, the size of arable land per capita in the republic has decreased over the past 20 years from 0.43 to 0.3 hectares, including irrigated land — from 0.27 to 0.195 hectares. By 2030, it is projected to be 0.18 and 0.1 hectares, respectively.
The overgrazing of pastures by livestock practiced over the last 25-30 years has led to a decrease in their productivity by an average of 4 times, to their overgrowth with weeds and poisonous plants, to compaction and other types of erosion. Anthropogenic impact on pastures is exacerbated by the same natural factors that affect the soil cover. The degree of pasture degradation can be classified as strong and very strong. Currently, due to a sharp decrease in livestock numbers, natural restoration has begun on seasonal and remote pastures.
The total area of land within the administrative boundaries of the republic is 19,994.5 thousand hectares. Of these:
• total area of soil cover — 15,087.65 thousand hectares;
• sands, rocks, debris, outcrops of bedrock — 2,374.94 thousand hectares;
• glaciers and snowfields — 722.24 thousand hectares;
• lakes and rivers — 730.79 thousand hectares;
• others — roads, buildings, etc.
The total area of agricultural land in the republic (as of January 1, 2003) is 10,797.2 thousand hectares, arable land — 1,237.2 thousand hectares, or 12.8% of the total area of agricultural land. Pastures occupy 9,188 thousand hectares (or 85.1% of the total area of agricultural land). Perennial crops occupy 10,797.2 thousand hectares, or just over 0.04%.
The sharply continental climate has never been a favorable factor for development. Possible climate tightening due to the degradation of the Aral Sea may lead to an increase in natural disasters — frosts, droughts, floods, mudflows.
Dynamics of land fund distribution by agricultural land, thousand hectares.