TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, October 3. Uzbekistan considers introducing tariffs for the supply of irrigation water to reach more efficiency in use, Trend reports.
Speaking at the panel session of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Egypt, adviser to the Minister of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan Odilbek Isakov considered it very important that the liberalization of tariffs in the energy sector is carried out in stages.
"We need to look 10-15 years ahead when it comes to liberalizing other tariffs. Uzbekistan sees great losses of water when it comes to agricultural sector, but farmers do not feel any difference, because the state pays for everything," Isakov said.
The advisor thinks that sooner or later Uzbekistan’s irrigation system will become more efficient, and farmers will have more incentives to use water-saving technologies.
Earlier this month, Uzbekistan expressed its readiness to develop a National Water Conservation Program as part of the Development Strategy.
In addition, Uzbekistan is implementing full-scale measures to improve the efficiency of water use in the country. Over the past 7 years, water-saving technologies have been implemented on an area of more than 1 million hectares, which is about a quarter of all irrigated land in the country.