105
producing crops like maize, sorghum, rice, sunfl ower, vegetables and fruit on the
other. In recognition of the higher productivity and market value of these products,
there has recently been a modest shift in agricultural policy away from cotton not
only to wheat but also to rice and vegetables. These products require different cropping patterns and, by consequence, different irrigation practices. This is creating
new confl icts over water distribution between the harvests of cotton, winter wheat
and secondary crops, revealing also serious limitations to the existing irrigation
system (Kenjabaev 2014 ).
8.3 Transformation and Path Dependencies in Fergana
Valley’s Post-Soviet Irrigation System
Water management in Uzbekistan has undergone transformation in a number of
ways since independence, most of them in the form of organisational restructuring
to meet new challenges. The immediate change following the dissolution of the
USSR was to set up a trans-boundary central organisation – the Interstate
Coordination Water Commission (ICWC) – in 1992 to coordinate water management between the new riparian states. This body replaced the central Soviet government as the head of a hierarchy of water authorities reaching from the national to the
local level. These comprise today, for the Fergana Valley, the transnational Basin
Water Organisation Syrdarya responsible for implementing ICWC policy, the
national government with – above all – the Ministry of Agriculture and Water
Resources, sub-basin water management organisations at the regional level and
water users associations (WUAs) responsible for on-farm irrigation.
Originally, irrigation was organised around the territorial jurisdictions of provinces, districts and local authorities. In 2003, in accordance with a core principle of
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), the organisation structure of
irrigation was reordered spatially around hydrographic boundaries, i.e. corresponding to the spatial reach of an irrigation system or sub-system (Dukhovny et al.
2009 ). In Uzbekistan as a whole, ten basin irrigation systems authorities were established and, under their authority, 63 irrigation system authorities and main canal
authorities. In the Fergana Valley basin and sub-basin, authorities were created for
the Fergana Canal and its sub-canals. This organisational innovation is judged to
have proved remarkably successful in minimising confl icts in the region over water
allocation (Abdullaev et al. 2009 ). In particular, disputes between the upstream
province of Andijan and the downstream province of Fergana relating to water use
along the South Fergana Canal have been resolved earlier and more effectively since
the replacement of provincial with irrigation system-based authorities. The new
hydrographic boundaries are, though, only one reason for this improvement in interprovincial relations. A second reason has been the creation of a new participatory
governance structure, comprising nine Unions of Water Users along the South
Fergana Canal, which represent the interests of water users associations in the Canal
Water Committee (Abdullaev et al. 2009 ).
8 Between Multiple Transformations and Systemic Path Dependencies
producing crops like maize, sorghum, rice, sunfl ower, vegetables and fruit on the
other. In recognition of the higher productivity and market value of these products,
there has recently been a modest shift in agricultural policy away from cotton not
only to wheat but also to rice and vegetables. These products require different cropping patterns and, by consequence, different irrigation practices. This is creating
new confl icts over water distribution between the harvests of cotton, winter wheat
and secondary crops, revealing also serious limitations to the existing irrigation
system (Kenjabaev 2014 ).
8.3 Transformation and Path Dependencies in Fergana
Valley’s Post-Soviet Irrigation System
Water management in Uzbekistan has undergone transformation in a number of
ways since independence, most of them in the form of organisational restructuring
to meet new challenges. The immediate change following the dissolution of the
USSR was to set up a trans-boundary central organisation – the Interstate
Coordination Water Commission (ICWC) – in 1992 to coordinate water management between the new riparian states. This body replaced the central Soviet government as the head of a hierarchy of water authorities reaching from the national to the
local level. These comprise today, for the Fergana Valley, the transnational Basin
Water Organisation Syrdarya responsible for implementing ICWC policy, the
national government with – above all – the Ministry of Agriculture and Water
Resources, sub-basin water management organisations at the regional level and
water users associations (WUAs) responsible for on-farm irrigation.
Originally, irrigation was organised around the territorial jurisdictions of provinces, districts and local authorities. In 2003, in accordance with a core principle of
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), the organisation structure of
irrigation was reordered spatially around hydrographic boundaries, i.e. corresponding to the spatial reach of an irrigation system or sub-system (Dukhovny et al.
2009 ). In Uzbekistan as a whole, ten basin irrigation systems authorities were established and, under their authority, 63 irrigation system authorities and main canal
authorities. In the Fergana Valley basin and sub-basin, authorities were created for
the Fergana Canal and its sub-canals. This organisational innovation is judged to
have proved remarkably successful in minimising confl icts in the region over water
allocation (Abdullaev et al. 2009 ). In particular, disputes between the upstream
province of Andijan and the downstream province of Fergana relating to water use
along the South Fergana Canal have been resolved earlier and more effectively since
the replacement of provincial with irrigation system-based authorities. The new
hydrographic boundaries are, though, only one reason for this improvement in interprovincial relations. A second reason has been the creation of a new participatory
governance structure, comprising nine Unions of Water Users along the South
Fergana Canal, which represent the interests of water users associations in the Canal
Water Committee (Abdullaev et al. 2009 ).
8 Between Multiple Transformations and Systemic Path Dependencies