VI-6 Land degradation issues in Kazakhstan and measures to address them : research and adoption

Most intensive land degradation processes in Kazakhstan have been developed on rangelands. Although land degradation of rangelands is partly associated with sandy soils and dry climate in deserts, poor rangeland management aggravated during the process of land privatization is a major factor. Land degradation of cropland in rainfed agriculture occurs mostly through soil erosion by both wind and water. Although wind erosion is prominent, much land degradation has been caused by erosion by water as well. Research has shown that one of the major means of addressing the issues of soil erosion on cropland in rainfed agriculture is the elimination of the summer fallow practice on black soils and the adoption of chemical summer fallow concept in dry steppe regions. In the last three years, the area under summer fallow was reduced by 1 million ha. The other measure is No-Till and minimum tillage, which are currently adopted practices on 11.2 million ha of cropland. Degradation of cropland in irrigated agriculture occurs even more intensively because of poor management of soil drainage and irrigation systems. Saline seepage in particular is a major problem in these soils. Therefore, policies should be directed towards rebuilding of all irrigation and drainage constructions.