An international Knowledge Sharing forum on “Water Users Associations and Water Resources Management at the Community and Small Family Farms level in Central Asia”
On July 27-29, 2017, in Bosteri village of Issyk-Kul rayon an international Knowledge Sharing forum on “Water User Associations and Water Resources Management at the Community and Small Family Farms level in Central Asia” was held. This event was organized by the WUA Union of Kyrgyzstan (UWUA) and was funded by the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA). The Union of WUAs of Kyrgyzstan since 2014 is a member of AFA and a representative of AFA in Kyrgyzstan.
The Knowledge Sharing Forum is held within the framework of the AFA Mission, which arrived in Kyrgyzstan, as an observer of the Governing Council of the Global Agricultural and Food Security Program (GAFSP).
The workshop was attended by the AFA Mission, representatives from the MAFPLI of the KR, DWRLI, the National Association of Farmers from Tajikistan and the UWUA of Kyrgyzstan, the Network “Farmers and Water” from Cambodia, the Association of Central Asian and Caucasus Research Organizations, APNIP projects, FAO, in total 27 participants.
The Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) is a regional non-governmental organization that unites farmers’ organizations in 16 countries of Southeast Asia and Central Asia (Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Tajikistan, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, Japan), with headquarter in Manila city, Philippines.
By cooperating with a number of international development agencies (FAO, IFAD, WB, etc.) AFA is a member of the Governing Council of the GAFSP and the World Bank, through which the World Bank implements two projects in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. So in Kyrgyzstan, for example, the “Agricultural Productivity and Nutrition Improvement Project” (APNIP) with a budget of $ 38 million. The project objective is to increase agricultural productivity in irrigated lands, food security and nutrition of the rural population.
Apasov R.T. has presented presentation on this project, who introduced the participants of the workshop with the tasks, the project progress, who has answered the questions. So, Amirullah Islam, the executive manager of AFA, Bangladesh, was interested by the issue of how 30 WUAs will be selected for the project and pilot households? Esther Penunia, Secretary General of AFA, was interested by the issue of whether the involvement of women in the project and their support from the project side is justified (we are talking about subcomponent 3.3)? Representative of the National Association of Peasant Farms of Tajikistan Shokh Sharipov has asked what is the agricultural development plan, are the plans of ayil aimaks or WUAs? In total, 5 questions were asked, for which detailed answers were given. Additional comments on the tasks of the project were given by E. Kozhoyev, A. Temirbekov, B. T. Koshmatov, who from 2015 was participated in the design of the project.
The main results of participation in this workshop are raising awareness among the AFA Mission, other participants of the workshop on the deployment of project activities, on the differences in the organization of the agricultural sector of the country from the agriculture of other countries. Also, as well as receiving recommendations for improving the implementation of the APNIP project. In particular, the opinion was expressed on the possibility of granting farmers of support funds in a grant form, rather than on a credit basis, as in other countries (E. Kozhoyev).
The Knowledge Sharing Forum was successful. All the goals and tasks set before the forum have been achieved.
