Land and Water Use in Rice-upland Crop Rotation Areas in Lower Ili River Basin, Kazakhstan

The lower Ili River Basin is located in semi-arid area, and the annual rainfall is 177 mm. Therefore, the irrigation is inevitable for agriculture. Large-scale irrigated agriculture had been developed since 1960’s in the lower parts of the river and the total irrigated area is about 32 000 hm2. In the project area, the paddy rice-upland crop rotation has been practiced. Due to the domestic water use for hydropower and agriculture as well as water use among riparian countries, the deficit of water for agriculture in the lower part has been concerned. The authors, therefore, conducted the field survey and water balance analysis of the Akdara irrigation project in the lower Ili River Basin in order to assess the land and water uses. Moreover, the impact of the water use on water environment to the basin was analyzed. The following results were obtained as following (1) the groundwater level in the irrigated district varied from 1.5 m to 3.5 m through year. (2) 1970’s groundwater level was drastically raised from 8 m to 3 m and the groundwater had been recharged in this period. (3) Water use efficiency of agriculture, which is the ratio of total evapotranspiration to the total water withdrawal was as low as 0.23.