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KYRGYZSTAN
by Anthony Fitzherbert 1.1 Geographical location 1.3 The immediate consequences of Perestroyka and Independence 1.5 Agriculture and Crop Production 1.6 Agricultural Inputs and Yields 3. CLIMATE AND AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONES 4. RUMINANT LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS 4.1 Historical Background 4.3 Reasons for the rapid decline in sheep numbers 4.4 Herding Habits and Grazing Pressure 4.5 Changes in Livestock Preference 6. OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF PASTURE RESOURCES 6.6 Perennial sown hay meadows 7. CULTIVATED FODDER CROPS and NATURAL HAY MEADOWS 7.1 Cultivated Fodders (Lucerne, Sainfoin etc) 8. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONS AND PERSONNEL 1. INTRODUCTION
Kyrgyzstan is a small, mountainous, landlocked country in the heart of Central Asia lying between 390 and 430 N and 690 and 800 E, covering 198 000 kms2, with a mixed ethnic population of under 4 500 000. The country is bounded to the north by Kazakstan, to the south by China and Tajikistan and to the west by Uzbekistan, and is almost entirely mountainous with only 7% of the land area suitable for arable agriculture. Together with Tajikistan, it is among the poorest of the former Soviet Union republics.
The main group, the Kyrgyz, make up about 55% of the population. They are a nominally Moslem people with a long tradition as nomad herdsmen and horsemen, speaking a Turkic tongue. Their traditional life-style and ancestral origin in the Altai and the basin of the Yenisei was not dissimilar to that of the Mongols as dwellers in round tents of grey-brown felt draped and bound over a flexible wooden framework (yurta in Russian and boz ooyi i.e. 'grey house' in Kyrgyz). The boz ooyi together with the high crowned white felt hat ak kalpak, the heroic saga of the Manas cycle and fermented mare's milk koumiss are the proud symbols of their nation. This is a life-style for which the country is ideally suited, but for the majority it is now greatly changed. The influence of seventy years as part of the USSR was profound. The legacy of these times remains and ten years of independence have brought more uncertainty than economic benefit to the rural population. Under the Soviet Union emphasis was placed on stock-rearing of fine-wool sheep. Together with water, the natural pastures and grazing-lands of the Tien Shan mountains comprise the Republic's most valuable natural resources. The capital Bishkek (former Frunze), population about 900 000, is situated at between 700 and 850 metres at the immediate foot of the northern Tien Shan ranges [Tien Shan - The Celestial Mountains-Chinese: Ala Tau - the Speckled Mountains-Kyrgyz] and commanding the fertile Chu river valley at the southern most edge of the great Kazakh steppe. Administratively the country is divided into seven provinces or oblast (Chui; Talas; Issyk-kul; Naryn; Osh; Jalalabad and Badken) which in turn are divided into forty five districts or rayon. When Kyrgyzstan gained independence in 1991 it opted to be a democratic republic. Attitudes are, however, still influenced by the Soviet experience, as well as by the clan structure of Kyrgyz society which now dominates political as well as administrative life. The area comprising modern Kyrgyzstan was brought under Russian control in the 1860s and in 1865 incorporated into the Czarist provinces of Ferghana and Semireche. This opened up the region to European settlement in an area previously inhabited mainly by nomadic tribes. The whole region was much contested after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, but Russian control was regained in the 1920s. Kirgizia (as it was called) was declared a Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936. This gave the present Republic a political identity which it had not possessed historically. To provide Kirgizia with a minimum of productive crop land, a fringe of territory was added to the republic in the 1930s, in the rich Ferghana valley, incorporating the historic towns of Osh and Jalalabad and a mainly Uzbek population with ancient traditions of settled irrigated agriculture. Enforced settlement and collectivisation in the 1930s dealt a blow to the independent tribal, nomadic life-style of the Kyrgyz, from which it has not recovered. However, after the Second World War, their pastoral skills and traditions as herdsmen were successfully harnessed by the USSR to raise sheep and cattle. Traditional stock-rearing was based on transhumance [the seasonal use by domestic livestock and their herders, using different areas of the mountain pastures roughly along zones of altitude], using hardy local breeds. At that time the herds and flocks were more or less in equilibrium with their environment and the pastoral system stable. Under the Soviet Union the emphasis was placed on specialising in fine-wool sheep, less hardy than the local land races. Stock numbers were deliberately increased, supported by imported feed and a complex of other services. Excessive stocking led to the serious deterioration of the pastures and range lands, coupled with some loss of hardiness in favoured breeds. After independence, with the privatisation and division of the sheep flocks, coinciding with the collapse of the wool market and with imported feed no longer available or affordable, sheep numbers have declined precipitously. This has also coincided with a serious decline in the custom and practice of transhumance herding, with the result that, though the remoter pastures are presently under-stocked, the more accessible pastures now tend to be over stocked and seriously degraded. This situation is very different from that experienced in Mongolia where mobile grazing systems, using hardy indigenous breeds with little or no supplementary feed was and has never ceased to be the general practice. In sharp contrast to Kyrgyzstan stock numbers in Mongolia, including sheep and yaks, and in particular cashmere goats have consistently risen since the end of collectivised herding. The ethnic mixture of the Republic's
population was further complicated during and after the Second World War by the settlement
of many minority groups as well as Russian administrators and technicians from elsewhere
in the USSR, giving the Republic the multi-ethnic character that is still its dominant
social characteristic. Many of these settlers came from a rural background and were
established in sovkhoz and kolkhoz (state and collective farms hereafter
referred to, for brevity, as collectives ) on much of the best agricultural land.
The Kyrgyz were employed mainly as herdsmen, but living much more controlled lives as part
of a centralised production programme. After the perestroyka years, in the late 1980s, the Kyrgyz Supreme Soviet voted for independence from the USSR in August 1991 and later in May 1993 for the economic and political reforms proposed by the present president, Askar Akaev. Despite the ambitious programme of political, economic, land and agrarian reforms set in train at that time, and still in progress, the predominantly rural economy has not taken off as was hoped. Much has reverted to subsistence agriculture, operating largely through a non-cash system of barter. All but a few of the intensive livestock production units ceased to operate within two years of independence. The collapse of a captive Soviet market and a declining international market for wool, coinciding with the division and privatisation of the state owned flocks that started in the mid 1980s, has led to a dramatic reduction in the numbers of sheep from an estimated 14 500 000 head in 1990 / 91 (including both state and privately owned animals) to possibly less than 3 000 000 at present. The numbers of other stock (cattle, goats and horses but not yaks) has remained stable and may even have increased, but production is now predominantly for subsistence. The country's need to feed itself has led to a considerable expansion of the area under wheat, largely at the expense of land previously growing fodder, mainly lucerne (Medicago sativa) and sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), and barley. All these factors have had and are having a profound influence on the production systems and pastoral resources of the Republic. The Kyrgyz, the politically dominant group, make up roughly 55% of a population of about 4 500 000. This proportion is increasing with the steady emigration of other groups, particularly those of European descent. The country remains multi-ethnic in character including; Russians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Tartars, Turks, Dungans (Chinese Moslems), Kazakhs, Uigurs, Tajiks, Koreans and smaller groups from the Caucasus and elsewhere. All these peoples keep livestock of some kind in addition to their arable farming. Many rural Kyrgyz now live as settled farmers but are still considered to be primarily herdsmen with most of the mountain grazing and pasture lands being under Kyrgyz management. Over 60% of the population live in the rural areas, but there is a steady drift to the cities of Bishkek and Osh, particularly from poor, mainly Kyrgyz-populated highland districts. More Kyrgyz are now urban dwellers than ever before. 1.5 Agriculture and Crop Production In Kyrgyzstan 109 000 km2 are designated as agricultural land in the broadest sense, of which only 14 000 km2, 7% of the total land mass, are suitable for arable farming. Of this between 7 320 and 8 372 km2 are designated as being available for irrigated crop production. The lower figure is almost certainly closer to reality, as possibly as much as 1 000 km2 of land (both rain-fed and irrigated) has fallen out of cultivation in recent years, much of it permanently. This is particularly true of Chui, Issyk-kul and Naryn oblasts due to the break down of irrigation and drainage systems, lack of essential inputs, machinery and financial resources and in some places due to emigration, especially those of European descent. There is much greater population pressure on the land in the Ferghana oblasts and consequently less abandoned arable land. The total area of crops is estimated at about 12 200 km2 of which 7 300 km2 (59%) are irrigated and 4 900 (41%) are rain-fed. Little of the abandoned land currently has any significant value as pasturage and much of it has tended to revert to reed beds, or noxious, spiny weeds and scrub. The main crops (see Table 1.1.) are wheat, barley, maize (for grain and silage), potatoes, melons, oilseed crops, vegetables of many kinds and fodder, mainly lucerne on the better irrigated land and sainfoin on the less well irrigated hill slopes. Sugar beet is an important cash crop in Chui oblast; cotton and tobacco in the southern 'Ferghana' oblasts. Since independence the need for local self sufficiency has given wheat production an importance it never had in Soviet times when the Republic was, to a great extent, fed from elsewhere. Driven by local demand and the experience of the shortages that followed independence, the wheat acreage has increased greatly since the early 1990s. According to official data a total of 193 582 ha of wheat were grown in 1990; in 1999 the official figure was 482 717 ha (both irrigated and rain fed). This increase in area has taken place even as yields have fallen. The greatest increase has been at the expense of other irrigated arable crops, much of it replacing planted fodder crops (mainly lucerne and sainfoin) and barley, which previously helped sustain an intensive livestock industry. This concentration on wheat production has been at the expense of good agronomic practice and rotations. The area sown to wheat is currently showing signs of having stabilised and even to have contracted somewhat in favour of crops such as oil seeds. (For crop / area trends 1990 to 1999 see Tables 1.0 and 2.0) The total area of planted fodder crops, which are mainly accounted for by lucerne and sainfoin are recorded as having decreased from about 432 400 ha in 1990 to 231 500 ha in 1999. The balance being largely replaced by wheat. The area sown to barley in 1990 is recorded as having been 266 399 ha, which by 1999 had fallen to 101 961 ha. Oil seed crops on the other hand have shown a remarkable increase from a total of 7 801 in 1990, mainly on irrigated land, to a total of 68 488 ha in 1990 almost equally split between irrigated crops of sunflower and (to a lesser extent) rape and mainly rain-fed crops of safflower. Also, reflecting the increasingly subsistence and peasant nature of Kyrgyz agriculture, the area cultivated for growing domestic survival crops has increased substantially; potatoes from 25 200 ha in 1990 to 64 000 ha in 1999, and vegetable crops from 20 600 in 1990 to 46 900 in 1999. This also reflects a growing small-farmer cash market for these crops in the towns and cities. Commercial, as opposed to back garden, vegetable production is often in the hands of certain ethnic groups; Uzbeks in the South, in the Ferghana oblasts; Dungans and Koreans in Chui. Cabbages (for the Siberian market) are grown in Issyk-kul and potatoes in Issyk-kul, Naryn and other highland areas of Osh and Talas and almost everywhere as an important kitchen garden, domestic, survival crop. Sugar beet production, which is almost exclusively confined to the Chui oblast, and to a limited extent in Talas oblast, has increased over the last ten years, from a point where it had almost ceased in the mid 1980s due to serious nematode infestation, the result of poor rotation. In 1990 the area sown to sugar beet is recorded as being only 103 ha, while in 1999 it was 28 895 ha. The main incentive has been the highly lucrative local market for vodka. Though farmers who grow sugar beet may also have access to beet pulp for animal feed this does not appear to be well organised since the collapse of the state farming system. Previously the collectiveswhich grew sugar beet often also kept herds of milking cows or managed beef fattening units. The past ten years has seen an over all decrease in maize production and a change in proportion between grain and silage production. In 1990 a total of 155 261 ha of land is recorded as having been planted to maize, of which 65 664 (42.3%) was for grain, and 89 597 ha (57.7%) was for silage. The data for 1999 shows a very reduced total of 81 560 ha planted in maize (a reduction of 73 701 ha) of which 61 009 ha (74.8%) was for grain, and 20 551 ha (25.2%) for silage. All the main deciduous, temperate fruits grow well in Kyrgyzstan and the Tien Shan is a significant geographical centre of origin for many. The commercial orchards and vineyards of the previous collectives tend now to be poorly managed but every rural household has a few fruit trees and berry bushes in their gardens and dacha which are of great importance to household economies. 1.6 Agricultural Inputs and Yields (see Table 3.0) Crops yields are low and have fallen considerably since independence due to a combination of causes, among which are lack of cash in the rural economy as well as the unavailability and expense of fertiliser, herbicide and good seed. Most agricultural machinery, equipment and processing plant (seed cleaners etc.) are now ageing and in increasingly poor condition having not been replaced since before the break up of the Soviet Union and since the division of the state and collective farms, are not now always easily available to the new class of small farmer. Average wheat yields, which in the early 1990s were still quoted at between 3.5 and 4 tonnes per hectare on irrigated land, have fallen to an average of 2.0 tonnes and even less per hectare, nearer to the previous average for rainfed wheat. TABLE 1.0 Comparative Cropped areas '000 hectares 1990 to 1999
Note: Official statistics are still being gathered according to methods little changed since the Soviet era. Source: Goskomstat Table 2.0 Comparison between Crop areas 1989, 1996 and 1997 between Northern and Southern Zones. North = Chui, Issyk-kul, Talas and Naryn oblasts: South = Osh, Jalalabad, Badken oblasts, in 1 000 hectares. (Source. Mott MacDonald NIRAP Report 1999)
Table 3.0 Yields of Major Crops (kg/ha) 1990 to 1998
Note: Official statistics
are still being gathered according to methods little changed since the Soviet era.
Source: Goskomstat
Since 1993 the prices of most agricultural commodities have risen in real terms, in particular that of meat. (Table 4.0). The significant exception is wool which has consistently fallen following the international trend. In Kyrgyzstan the general quality of wool has also deteriorated considerably since the privatisation and break up of the state flocks. Though some cash marketing occurs, in particular for cotton and tobacco and through local bazaars for vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy products, most agricultural trade and exchange is by barter, although commodities are exchanged at a nominal cash value. Commonly, diesel, fertiliser and other inputs, if available, are procured in exchange for grain, or crops such as potatoes and onions. Sugar beet growers are generally paid by the factories in bags of sugar rather than cash. Even the settlement of international debts is carried out through barter and Kyrgyzstan regularly pays its gas bills to Uzbekistan in grain. The present system of agricultural taxation tends to encourage the perpetuation of barter. As one example, from many, it is reported that in 1995 forty bales of hay might be bartered for two head of cattle (age and sex is not stated). Another report from 1995 quotes that in Ak-suu rayon in Issyk-kul a sheep could be bought for 3 to 4 bottles of vodka (i.e. 1.5 - 2 litres) or for 10 litres of petrol (76 octane) and a kilogram of mutton was 15 - 20 Som. In July 2000, in Chui Oblast in the summer pastures jayloo of the Suusamyr valley, a bale of hay (standard oblong bales) costs 25 Som (0.5 US$). A medium sized cow costs 8 000 Som (US$ 160) and a sheep 2 000 Som (US$ 40) live weight. A litre of vodka costs 120 Som (US$ 2.4 / litre. depending on brand). In the capital, Bishkek, a kilogram of best quality mutton currently costs 100 Som / kg (US$ 2.0) and a litre of petrol (76 octane) 15 Som (US$ 0.33). Wheat prices (in real terms) which were low in 1994 at approximately 0.6 Som/kg (0.07 US$) in 1999 had risen to 2.21 Som / kg (0.14 US$). Mutton prices, though very low in the early 1990s, rose steeply after 1994 from 14.88 Som /kg (US$ 1.47) to a peak of 32.91 Som (US$ 3.39), but levelled out to between US$ 2.0 and 2.30 in 1997 / 98, falling back in 1999 to an average of US$ 1.6 in the capital Bishkek. In the first half of 2000, better quality mutton has been selling for about US$ 2.0 in Bishkek, though the average is still about US $ 1.6 to 1.7 / kg. Table 4.0 National Average : Agricultural Commodity Prices 1993 to 1999 Expressed in US$ / kilogram
TABLE 5.0 Average Meat Prices Bishkek and Osh 1995 to 2000 K. Kyrgyz Som / US$ Equivalent / Kg
1.8 Land and Agrarian Reform and Policy Since 1993 the government policy on land and agrarian reform has aimed at the privatisation of land and the break up of the collectives. This is well advanced and by the end of 1999, with the issue of about 511 000 land certificates, is almost complete. The remnant of the state institute, research, seed and breeding farms are also (in the year 2000) being broken up and privatised. Some 25% of agricultural land has been retained as part of a 'State Land Fund', available for leasehold, subject to auction. State herds and flocks were among the first items to be divided and privatised starting as early as the mid 1980s. In the interests of equity, regardless of experience or skill in agriculture and livestock husbandry, both land and livestock have been divided between all the members of the old collectives young and old, men and women. The land has been parcelled out in very small units, generally in fractions of a hectare, leaving the new land holders to work out their farming systems as best they can as individual farmers or as partners and/or shareholders in smaller or larger agricultural units or peasant farms- krestianski xezaystva. Distribution of the old farms' assets in terms of buildings, plant and machinery have posed a greater problem in terms of the equity of division. There are many different variants but the result is that many small holders find difficulty in getting access to machinery, or remain very dependant on the rump of the old farm management that have retained control of these assets. In some instances members of the old collectives have elected to retain the old farm management structure and the assets intact, as shareholders in Agricultural Co-operatives. Initially agricultural land was parcelled out as ninety nine year leaseholds but in 1998 this was changed to freehold, subject to a moratorium of five years on the free sale of agricultural land. At the present time strong moves are afoot to lift the moratorium as soon as possible. This is likely to occur in the very near future although many issues remain unresolved and opinions are divided as to the wisdom of this move. Land previously or currently sown to
fodder crops, is classed as agricultural and subject to privatisation. Most natural
pasture and hay meadows are still under state ownership although individual communities
representing the members of previous collectives have rights of usage. Some 'new' private
farmers have acquired title to old livestock units including pasture and meadow land,
usually on the fringes of the old farms. The question of the future usage of grazing lands
is under review and a new system of lease-holding is being developed. Only the irrigable soils of high potential have been studied in detail. According to FAO/UNESCO classification the soils of the Ferghana valley in the south are Calcic Xerosols; those of the Chui valley are Calcaric Gleysols and those of Naryn Oblast in the central highlands are Humic Cambisols. In the mountain tracts Lithosols and outcrops of rock debris occur while the plateau-like surfaces are characterised by Yermosols, especially Takyric Yermosols; plateaux may be covered with loess-like loams. Kyrgyzstan is dominated by the Tien Shan mountains that lie in a series of dramatic parallel ranges running west to east of which the greater part are within the Republic and which divide the country into three main zones. Ninety four percent of the Republic is above 1 000 metres, with an average altitude of 2 750 metres and more than 40% over 3 000 metres of which three-quarters are under permanent snow and ice. The highest peaks rise to over 7 400 metres in a knot of mountains on the eastern border with China. The Northern zone includes the Talas and Chu river valleys which mark the southern edge of the great Kazakh steppe, which stretches for hundreds of kilometres to the north. It includes the upland tectonic basin, at 1 600 metres, which cradles the lake of Issyk-kul (the warm lake). Almost 700 metres deep, 170 km long and 70 km wide (at its widest) Issyk-kul is the second largest alpine lake in the World (after lake Titicaca in Peru/Bolivia), large enough to create its own local weather patterns. The Southern zone is marked by a fringe of rich agricultural lowlands in the Ferghana valley centred on the towns of Osh and Jalalabad, held in a scissors grip of mountains between the Pamir Alay in the south, and the western Tien Shan and Ferghana ranges to the North and East. The Central zone - the main body of the country comprises a vast alpine area of rugged mountain ranges, glaciers, snow fields, high river valleys, upland steppe and alpine and sub-alpine pastures and meadows.
Together with the grazing
lands, water resources comprise the most valuable natural assets of the Republic. The Tien
Shan highlands are the source of some of the most significant river systems watering the
surrounding steppes and deserts of Central Asia. The Naryn and the Kara Darya; their
tributaries and many other streams and rivers, rising in the central Tien Shan, the
Ferghana and Alay ranges, form the main head waters of the Syr Darya (the
Jaxartes) and have supported irrigated agriculture in the Ferghana valley since
ancient times. The Kyzyl Su (Surkh Ab) rising in the mountains of the Pamir Alay flows
into the rich Garm valley in Tajikistan and onwards to form an important tributary of the
Amu Darya (the Oxus). Before they were excessively canalised under the
Soviet Union, both river systems drained freely into the now much diminished Aral Sea. The
Chu river also rising in the central Tien Shan, together with its numerous tributary
streams, flows north into the Kazakh steppe, as does the Talas river. The Kara Su rising
among the glaciers and perpetual snows of the eastern Tien Shan and the Ak Say flowing out
of the Chatyr Kol (lake) on the Chinese frontier drain south into the Tarim Basin of
western China. These river systems were extensively developed in Soviet times both for
hydroelectricity and irrigation. 3. CLIMATE AND AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONES The climate is continental, with cold winters and hot summers, but with great local variations depending on altitude, aspect and the lie of the mountain ranges. In July, average temperatures at lower elevations are generally round about 27o C but can exceed 40o C, while at the same time at 3 000 m. temperatures may not exceed 10o C. In winter, frost occurs in all regions. Precipitation is highest in the high mountains, falling mainly as snow, with a maximum of 1 000 mm along the fringe of the Ferghana valley. However, some highland valleys remain almost free of snow even in the hardest winters due to their position in relation to the surrounding ranges and provide wintering grounds for livestock at higher elevations than might be expected. In the Talas valley in the north-west, precipitation varies from 250 mm to 500 mm. In Issyk-kul there is a considerable difference between the western end of the lake which only receives an average of 200 mm and the eastern end which can receives up to 600 mm a year. Rain and snow occur mainly in the autumn and winter but sometimes well into the spring, until late May or even early June. Summers are generally dry but storms of heavy rain, hail and even snow occur, even in mid-summer and even at lower altitudes. Evaporation in key irrigated areas can vary between 1 200 mm and 1 600 mm, far exceeding average precipitation. Due to the current rate of evaporation lake Issyk-kul has no outlet, despite the many small rivers and streams flowing into it, though in past ages it once had an outflow into the Chu river. The level of the lake is known to have been subject to considerable fluctuations. The vegetation in Kyrgyzstan is classified vertically into three belts: The first and the lowest of these lies below 1 500 metres and was historically dominated by grass steppe, with marshes and reed-beds along rivers such as the Chu. Much of this, particularly where irrigation has been developed and the land drained, is now under settled agriculture, except in areas which are too arid or the gradient too steep. In the south-west on the fringes of Ferghana where there is higher precipitation along the mountain slopes relic ancient fruit and nut forests occur. The second belt between 1 500 and 3 000 metres is mainly open mountain grasslands and scrub, with some broadleaf and conifer forest, depending on the location and configuration of the mountain ranges and valleys up to a tree line that never exceeds 3 000 metres. The third and highest belt above 3 000 metres comprises alpine grassland and sub-alpine meadows, intercalated with permanent snow-fields, glaciers and rocks. Forests: Forest cover including dense shrub-land is estimated at 8 430 km2, of which 1 016 km2 are plantations. This is 4.2% of the country or less than 8% of the manageable land area. Most of the forests are between 1 200 and 2 400 metres. Jalalabad Oblast has the greatest forest cover (9.0%) followed by Osh (5.1%), Talas (3.6%), Issyk-kul (2.7%), Naryn (2.2%) and Chui (2.1%.) Natural forests contain 120 woody species. On the northern ranges the most significant are: spruce (Picea schrenkiana), several junipers (Juniperus spp), rowan (Sorbus tianschanica) and birch (Betula spp), with bushy scrub of Barberry (Berberis spp), Wild Rose (Rosa spp), Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides),Caragana spp and others. In the western Tien Shan, in the drier more protected areas, pistachio (Pistaciavera), is a significant species with stands of wild almond (Prunus amygdalus). In the wetter areas, particularly on the southern slopes overlooking Ferghana some of the most significant relic forests of walnut (Juglans regia), left in the world are found and of various wild fruit tree species( Malus, Pyrus and Prunus spp), as well as other hard woods such as Maple (Acer turkestanica). In the last thirty years it is estimated that forest cover has been reduced by at least 50%. Historically it was undoubtedly much greater. Much timber was felled during the Second World War and centuries of grazing have taken their toll. Forest lands are still controlled by the state through the Forest Department and at the local level through leskhoz which are responsible for the protection and management of the areas under their control. They operate as production units, including the sale and processing of timber, replanting and nurseries and the exploitation of other non-wood forest products such as nuts, wild fruits and edible fungi. The leskhoz incorporate the local populations and their livestock as well as grazing land and pasture within their boundaries. The diversity of the ecosystems of the
main Tien Shan range is naturally high due to the many micro climates and landscape types,
with elevations varying from 400 to 7 439 metres and habitats including desert and open
steppe, high grass lands, broadleaf and coniferous forest, alpine ecosystems and a variety
of aquatic habitats, wet-lands, perennial and intermittent streams, rivers, fresh and
saline lakes, including lake Issyk-kul. The western Tien Shan has the broadest range of
ecosystems (22 out of 24 classes); followed by the Inner Tien Shan (18 classes out of 24);
the Alay and the Northern Tien Shan (16 classes) and the Issyk-kul Basin and the Central
Tien Shan regions (12 classes each). As a result species diversity is also naturally high,
with well over 500 species of vertebrates, including 83 mammals, 368 reptiles, 745 fishes
along with 2 000 species of fungi, at least 3 000 species of insect and over 4 500 species
of higher plants. Many species are endemic either to Kyrgyzstan or to Central Asia.
Kyrgyzstan boasts a greater diversity than its neighbours. However, for many years now the
environment has been subjected to severe human pressure and about 10 % of the mammal and
avian species are listed as endangered. The official 'Red Data Book' published in 1985
list the following: 65 plants, 13 mammals -including some world renowned species such as
the snow leopard (Panthea uncia) and Marco Polo's sheep (Ovis ammon
polii), 33 birds, three reptiles, two fishes and 18 insect species. This is
certainly an under estimate. A network of protected areas does officially exist. This
includes 5 zapovedniki (strictly preserved areas), two national parks and 70 zakazniki
(other protected areas). These cover a total area of 558 700 ha or 2.7% of the total
country. Many of these areas are too small to maintain viable populations of plants or
wild life within their boundaries and despite considerable international interest in the
area, there is a lack of funds to provide adequate of management and control. 4. RUMINANT LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS Before collectivisation, traditional livestock management practices were based on transhumance and hardy land races. Under the Soviet system most livestock belonged to the State, as the property of collectives: individual herders might own up to ten sheep, a cow, a horse and a goat or two. Livestock production developed in two directions. Intensive production for meat and milk was based on home-grown fodder and grain in the form of lucerne, maize (grain and silage) and barley, supplemented by cheap concentrate feed from elsewhere in the USSR. Extensive sheep herding was based on transhumant grazing with a strong emphasis on fine wool production but heavily supported with supplementary feed and services, of all kinds including winter housing. Starting in the 1940s and increasing steadily over the next thirty years, Kirgizia became a wool farm for the USSR and a number of highly specialised fine and semi fine-wool breeds such as the Kyrgyz Fine Fleece Tonkorunnaya and the Tien Shan Semi-fine Fleece Tien Shanskaya, were developed based on the Merino, the Lincoln and others crossed with native breeds. In Kyrgyzstanseven distinct breeds of sheep are recognised [see box] Though broadly adapted to the local conditions the new breeds were more dependant on winter housing and supplementary winter feed than the traditional ones. During this time the dominant characteristic of the original indigenous fat-tail and-fat-rump, coarse wool sheep was changed to merino type fine wool breeds. None the less a number of the indigenous breeds such as the Kyrghyz Coarse Wool Fat-tail and the Hissar (sic Gissar) Fat-rump were retained and even 'improved' though in reduced numbers. Mutton from the indigenous types is generally preferred by the local Asiatic population. The skills of the Kyrgyz as herdsmen and shepherds with their pastoral and transhumance traditions were used by the Soviet Union in this development under central control and planning and maintained with heavy state support.
Under the traditional nomadic tribal systems droughts severe snow storms and other natural phenomena occurring every four to five years resulted in regular heavy losses of stock which also helped to maintain the natural balance on the pastures, as did their customs of seasonal pasture use. The emphasis on fine wool production led to a sustained effort to increase flock numbers through increasing fodder production, supplemented by imported concentrate feed in the winter. Additional support was provided by the development of a network of access roads, watering points, winter housing, transport and a full range of social and cultural support services for the herding communities, even on the most distant high summer pastures. This had the desired effect of reducing losses and increasing production, but by the 1970s and 1980s only 50% of feed requirements were being met from the grazing land. By the early 1960s permanent
over-stocking had been established as the normal state of affairs at almost all locations
in the seasonal grazing cycle, exceeding the natural carrying capacity of the mountains by
between two and two and a half times. In 1913 it is estimated (though opinions on this
differ somewhat), the area of modern Kyrgyzstan carried about 2 800 000 head of sheep. By
1989 this had increased to an official figure of 10 500 000 sheep. If the number of
privately owned animals is added the true figure was probably between 14 000 000 and 15
000 000 head of sheep alone. This came to an abrupt end when Kyrgyzstan became
independent. Since 1991 sheep numbers, though not of other types of ruminant stock (except
yaks) or horses, have declined dramatically to its present official figure of 3 300 000,
although by some estimates it may be closer to 2 500 000. (see Table 6.0)
For details of some of the challenges facing sheep herders up to 1995 see the on-line ODI Pastoral Development Network paper The Kyrgyz sheep herders at a crossroads
Table 6.0 STOCK NUMBERS 1990 to 1999, '000 head
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