To increase the efficiency of water management system in Uzbekistan, a combination of improved water infrastructure, adequate human and technical capacity, strengthened institutions and better-integrated water resource management is needed. In addition, irrigation methods applied at farm level should promote water savings and prevent from excessive irrigation, water logging, and salinization.
These aspects were the main rationale behind the decision of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to launch the Water Resources Management Sector Project (WRMSP) in 2008 and together with the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan to approach the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for a parallel non-reimbursable financing of the WRMSP soft component.
A first step in SDC's strategy to upscale its Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) experiences has been teaming up with the World Bank to implement the Rural Enterprise Support Project (RESP II) on about 250’000 hectares in seven districts of Uzbekistan. The novelty of this second step, the WRMSP, is its exclusive focus on pumped irrigation, encompassing an area of about 80’000 hectares with about 60’000 farming families. The engagement of SDC in this ADB project is a further step in the challenging process of promoting more effective water and land productivity. This teaming up ensures effective combination of IWRM institutional innovations with investments into the rehabilitation of pumped irrigation infrastructure by the ADB.