CGIAR research program on integrated agricultural production systems for the poor and vulnerable in dry areas (CRP drylands Central Asia)

Abstract

Being predominantly an agro-pastoral agricultural system, the area around the Aral Sea is affected by a very high degree of land degradation, characterized by intensive soil salinity, rising of water table and increasing mineralization, declining of rangeland productivity, as well as biodiversity loss. The most vulnerable are borderline territories, where the situation is even worse because of increasing load of both natural and anthropogenic factors as a result of intensive irrigated agriculture from the one side and degraded overgrazed pastures from the other. Lack of good quality forage for winter, low grazing capacity of desert pastures and remote markets to engage in trade activities, negatively affects the incomes of local people. These conditions deteriorate the livelihoods of the people and induce out-migration, leading to loss of local traditional knowledge and experience of land and water use.