Irrigation systems in Tajikistan – and the ways in which they are managed – should see improvement under a two-year FAO project just getting under way here.

Valued at US$ 468,000, the new project is aimed at modernizing irrigation systems and increasing agricultural productivity in a country that is highly dependent on irrigation.

Direct beneficiaries will be farmers on dekhans or privately owned commercial farms, members of local water users associations, and the Federation of Water Users Associations in the Govkush canal irrigation system, Vahdat district, Fayzabad district, and the Kofarnihon river basin.