Tajik President Emomali Rahmon regularly reminds of rational use of lands and the need to apply innovative technologies in order to increase crop yields.
In Tajikistan, the main subjects of agricultural production are dehqon farming units and cooperatives.
There are no so many land plots in the country suitable for agricultural production. The total area of irrigated lands in the country is about 700,000 hectares; over the past thirty years, irrigated area per capital has reduced from 0.12 hectare to 0.06 hectare.
Today agriculture faces many challenges associated with the degradation of biological diversity, drought, desertification and climate change, use of mineral fertilizers and chemicals, inadequate water supply.
In this regard, the use of innovative technologies plays an important role.
The main among these technologies are precision farming, smart greenhouses, hydroponics and drip irrigation, geographic information systems, and smart farming units.
- Precision farming is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter- and intra-field variability in crops. Precision agriculture uses information technology (IT) to ensure that crops and soil receive exactly what they need for optimum health and productivity. This also ensures profitability, sustainability and protection of the environment. It considers aspects such as soil type, terrain, weather, plant growth and yield data when managing crops. In a varied arrangement of agricultural lands in Tajikistan, this method is one of the most effective.
- The smart greenhouse is a revolution in agriculture, creating a self-regulating, microclimate suitable for plant growth through the use of sensors, actuators, and monitoring and control systems that optimize growth conditions and automate the growing process. This allows the crops that are being grown to reach the harvesting stage faster whilst retaining as many nutrients as possible.
- Drip system hydroponics is the most popular of all the hydroponic systems. This type of hydroponics borrows the most water-efficient irrigating technique used in traditional cultivation and adapts it to a soil-less growing system that’s so simple, efficient, and versatile that it’s being used to produce bountiful crops by everyone from city dwellers living in small apartments to some of the biggest commercial hydroponic farms the world over.
- A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface. GIS can show many different kinds of data on one map, such as streets, buildings, and vegetation. The use of GIS in agriculture is all about analyzing the land, visualizing field data on a map, and putting those data to work. Powered by GIS, precision farming enables informed decisions and actions through which farmers get the most out of each acre without damaging the environment.
- Smart Farm Systems provides medium to large-scale flood and furrow irrigation farmers with precision irrigation monitoring and control systems. These systems will revolutionize the farmer’s ability to conserve water and energy, reduce soil and chemical run off, improve crop yields and reduce equipment maintenance and labor costs. The first steps towards the creation of smart farms have already been taken in Tajikistan. Dairy farms in Tursunzoda, Khuroson and Ashat as well as poultry farms in Muminobod and other regions of the country have become pioneers in this direction. Smart farms reduce pasture grazing of cattle, and thereby saving agricultural lands and allowing expanding areas of intensive forage production. The smart farms also allow excluding the influence of external factors.
