沙漠研究 22-1, 111 -114 (2012 )"ICAL 1 / DT X"

Journal of Arid Land Studies－Refereed Paper－An Analysis on Propriety of Paddy Rice and Upland Crop Rotation Systemin the Lower Ili River Basin, Kazakhstan
Katsuyuki SHIMIZU*1), Toshihiko ANZAI2), Natsumi TAKAHASHI3) and Yoshinobu KITAMURA1)
Abstract: The lower Ili River Basin in Kazakhstan is located in an arid region where large-scale irrigated agriculture has beendeveloped since the late 1960s. Lately, there has been water-use adjustment between agriculture in the lower part and hydropower inthe middle part. Moreover, farmland in this area has been faced with salinity problem. The characteristics of irrigated agriculture inthis area are summarized as follows; (1) Conveyance and distribution efficiencies are very low, (2) Continuous irrigation is practiced inpaddy rice fields while irrigation for upland crop fields is only once or twice, (3) Upland crop uses the groundwater which is raised byseepages from canals and paddy rice fields. Therefore, to control groundwater level is quite important for agricultural in the area.
This study analyzed temporal and spatial distribution of cropping pattern and water use with considering groundwater level fluctuationin this area since the land development in order to evaluate propriety of paddy rice and upland crop rotation system employed in this area.
The results are summarized as follows; (1) Fluctuations of groundwater levels range from 1 m to 2 m in irrigated area. (2) The ratio of
paddy rice and upland crops areas has been kept same as before. (3) Water withdrawal for agriculture has reduced. (4) Prevailing croprotation system would be a sustainable technology in the study area if current amount of water withdrawal is ensured.
Key Words: Arid land, Groundwater level fluctuation, Irrigated agriculture, Salinization, Water balance
middle part of the river and stores water during the summer for
use in hydropower generation during winter. Therefore,summertime water shortages for agriculture are a concern.

1. Introduction
1.1. Water issues in the Ili river basin
The lower Ili River Basin in Kazakhstan is located in anarid region where large-scale irrigated agriculture has beendeveloped since the late 1960s. The Ili River, which is anexclusive water resource for agriculture in this area, is atransboundary river. Due to hydropower and agriculture aswell as water use among riparian countries, the deficit of water
for agriculture in the lower part of the river has been a concern.
Thus, inappropriate water management in the fields threatens
to create a salinity problem, which is typical in irrigatedagriculture in arid areas. The authors therefore conducted asurvey to clarify and evaluate the suitability of the actual water
use for irrigated agriculture in the lower Ili River Basin.
1.2. Study area
The Ili River originates from a branch of the Tian Shan
Mountains in China and flows into Lake Balkhash throughsoutheastern Kazakhstan. The annual discharge is about 19.6
cubic km, 80% of which comes from Chinese territory.
Figure 1 shows the Ili River and its environs. The lower Ili
River Basin is located in a continental arid zone; annual
precipitation is only 177 mm and the average temperature is
10.7 degrees Celsius. Kapchagai Reservoir is located in the2. Materials and Methods
The authors conducted a field survey at the former
Bakbakthi State Farm (BBF), which is a part of the Akdara
Irrigation Scheme (AIS) in the lower Ili River Basin. Figure
2 shows outlines of the BBF. Information on the BBF’s land
and water use such as cropping pattern, cropped areas, water
withdrawal from the Ili River was collected by the Balkhash
Water Management Office, Almaty Oblast (BWMO), the BBF,and individual farms. Water discharge data such as amount ofwater withdrawn from the Ili River, amount of irrigation water
conveyed to the AIS and crop water requirements were0200kmN* Corresponding Author: shimizu@muses.tottori-u.ac.jp
4-101 Koyamacho-minami, Tottori-City, Tottori, JAPAN (680-8553)
1) Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Japan
2) United Graduate School of Agriculture, Tottori University3) Graduate School of Agriculture, Tottori University

BorderBasin boundary
RiverLakeFig. 1. Outlines of the Ili River Basin.

Fig. 3. Cropped areas in the Akdara Irrigation Scheme.
Fig. 2. Irrigation and drainage system layout of the study area.

collected from a series of annual reports on water use in theAkdara Irrigation Scheme. The information on the transitionof structures of agricultural production, cropping patterns, andon-farm water management was collected from the BBF.
Water samples were collected from irrigation and drainage
canals, and Lake Balkhash to examine the impact of quality ofdrainage water on the lower part of the river.

3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Land use and cropping pattern
The total irrigated area of the AIS is 31,800 ha. The BBF
has 9,500 ha of irrigated area. The farm was established in1968 during the Soviet era and the Soviet Union placed great
importance on the farm for rice production. During theperiod of the state farm, required materials and machinery wereprovided by the government.
After Kazakhstan’s
independence was regained following the collapse of theUSSR, state farms were privatized and became cooperatives
between 1993 and 1995. After privatization, the BBF lost all
government support. The BBF had been composed of fivebrigards which are agricultural production units. Thesebrigards became five independent agricultural farms, whichwere subdivided into small farms. At present, there are 41
individual farms in the AIS.
3.2. Paddy rice and upland crop rotation
Due to climate conditions, the cropping period is limited
from early May to late August; the irrigation period is 120 days.
The major crops are paddy rice, wheat, and alfalfa. In theSoviet era, 6- or 7-year crop rotations were used and about 40
to 50% of the cropped area was devoted to paddy ricecultivation. This crop rotation was employed to haveirrigation for paddy rice leach out the accumulated salts during
upland crop cultivation in the fields by converting paddy rice toupland crops in those fields. Alfalfa is grown not only for
fodder crop but, since it is a legume, for fixing nitrogen. The

area of one rotation block is about 100 ha, and within thisblock the same crop is cultivated.
After privatization of the BBF, the privatized farms have
kept the crop rotation system. Figure 3 shows the cropped
area in the AIS from 1995 to 2007. The figure shows that
total cropped area excluding fallow has decreased to less than
50% of the original irrigated area in 1998 due todisorganization on farms during the transition period.
However, the total cropped area has recovered gradually,currently reaching the 1995 level. The ratio of paddy rice
area to cropped area has also increased, to about 10,000 ha,
while the upland crop area has not changed much. However,while the ratio of the alfalfa area decreased, the area devoted toother crops, such as industrial crops, increased.
The application rate of fertilizer has drastically decreased.
Soil fertility relies on the fixation of nitrogen by alfalfa. Ifthey are not able to assure a sufficient rice yield from thesecond and third years of rice crops, the farmers turn the paddy
rice fields into alfalfa fields.
The farm lot size is 1 to 2 ha (100 m × 100～200 m) andthe rotation block is about 100 ha. The average yields of
paddy rice and wheat are 3.5 to 4.0 t/ha and 2.0 t/ha,
respectively; these are lower than the average yields in
Kazakhstan, but the yield of alfalfa is high, 10.0 t/ha, since it isharvested 3 times per year.
3.3. Water use and management
3.3.1 Water balance
Annual water intake to the irrigation area is about 700 Mm3.
Of that, 136 Mm3 drains into the Ili River. Since the designed
value of the conveyance efficiency is 0.75 and the distribution
efficiency is 0.60, system efficiency is estimated as 0.45(=0.75× 0.60). That is, only 45% (315 Mm3) of water intake fromthe river (700 Mm3) reaches the fields. Possible reasons forsuch low efficiency are that all of the canals are earthen andthat the total length of the main and secondary canals is as longas 270 km. Under such conditions, lots of seepage andevaporation occur through conveyance and distribution.
Figure 4 shows the annual water balance in theWater
withdrawal

Paddyrice

Uplandcrops700(9,500 ha)(22,300 ha)

315

ET 101

ET 61

Seepage385

Seepage
254(unit: million m3)

Surfacedrainage
136

Sub
drainage
402

Fig. 4. Water balance in the Akdara Irrigation Scheme (2007)

irrigated district. Crop evapotranspiration is estimated byBlaney-Criddle method. The evapotranspiration rates forpaddy rice and upland crops are estimated as 644 mm and 450mm, respectively. Multiplying them by the cropped area, thewater requirement is estimated 162 (=61+101) Mm3. Fromthe balance of the paddy fields, seepage from paddy fields wasestimated 254 (=315-61). Lots of seepage from canals andpaddy fields raises the ground water level of the whole farm.
The overall irrigation efficiency of the irrigated district isestimated as 0.23. However, considering that seepage frompaddy fields effectively leaches salts from the field, 45%(=315/700) is used effectively (Shimizu et al., 2010).
3.3.2 On-farm water management
Continuous irrigation is practiced to the paddy rice fields
while no irrigation is done to upland crops fields. Soil water
moves upward by capillary action from the raised groundwatertable as discussed above. Then, water is supplied to uplandcrop fields through groundwater.
Practically, nobody works at upland crop fields except
seeding and harvest period due to no irrigation. On thecontrary, average area to manage paddy rice field is 25 ha perperson. However, none of the field workers have their own
vehicles to go around his fields. Therefore, all what he can dois to check water depth, inlet and outlet of paddy field on foot.
Under the current situation, it can be said that this rotation
system saves the manpower by using much amount of water topaddy fields.
3.4. Fluctuation of groundwater level
3.4.1. Temporal and spatial distribution of groundwaterlevel
As discussed above, lots of seepage from canal and paddy
fields raise the groundwater level in the irrigation period.
Figure 5 shows the fluctuation of groundwater level. As
shown in the figures, groundwater level raises about 2 mduring the irrigation period. This groundwater behavior
enables upland crops to get water from the groundwater sincewater moves upward due to capillary action in arid areas andalso promotes salinization in the upland crop fields.
Therefore, control of groundwater level is very important inthis area in terms of water supply to upland fields fromFig. 5. Groundwater fluctuation in the Akdara Irrigation Scheme.
(Wells F and L locate in the irrigated area while Well X is out of theirrigated area. Location of Wells F, L, and X is referred in Fig. 2.)

Fig. 6. Range of groundwater level in March and August (Anzai et al,2010). (Wells A~N locate in the irrigated area.).

groundwater and prevention from water logging andsalinization by keeping high groundwater table. Figure 6
shows the range of groundwater depth before irrigation period
and mid irrigation period. As shown in the figure,groundwater tables at Wells D, E, and F in August are close to
the ground surface since the wells are located in the westernpart of the BBK, which is relatively low.
3.4.2. Affecting factors of fluctuation of groundwater level
Affecting factors of fluctuation of groundwater level isanalyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Dependent
variable is groundwater level in Aug (1994, 1999～2002, 2004～2008）and independent variables are ratio of paddy area,
ratio of poor drainage area, and irrigation rate (m3/ha, 1999,2002, 2004～2008). Ratio of paddy area is calculated by theratio of paddy rice area to the field area within the 500 meter of
each observation well from the result of field investigation asshown in Figure 7. Ratio of poor drainage area is also
calculated by the same method as mentioned above and poor
drainage area is referred from the annual report from the Jetsu
hydrogeology expedition of Committee on Water Resources,Kazakhstan. Irrigation rate is calculated from the paddy rice
are and amount of water delivered to the lateral canals. These
data is collected from the water management office.
The result is shown in Table 1. Clear correlation isobserved between groundwater level and the ratio of paddy

Fig. 7. Relation between the distance from paddy field andgroundwater level.
Table 1 Results of multiple linear regression analysis.

not dropped although water withdrawal has drasticallydecreased in 1990s as shown in Figure 8. It means thatupland crops can get water from the groundwater.
Secondary, cropped area currently recovered after theconfusion of collapse of USSR as shown in Figure 3. It
means that even groundwater level rises about 2 m during
irrigation period as shown in Figures 5 and 6, serious
salinization has not occurred so far as crop rotation is practiced.
Considering saving water or reducing water withdrawal
from the river, frequent surface irrigation would be one of theoptions. However, it might be practical to irrigate paddy andupland crop fields in view of both current manpower andmobility in the study area
At last, as to current impact of agricultural water use in thestudy area on environmental aspect, that is, conservation of
Balkhash, total water withdrawal (last 5 year average; 700Mm3) is about 9 % of the river discharge during irrigation
period and also only 4% of the total annual river discharge(same as above; 17,716 Mm3/y). Agricultural water use does notaffect the environment to the downstream (Shimizu et al., 2010).

4. Conclusion(MCC: Multiple Correlation Clustering, CoD: Coefficient of determination,
paddy, drainage, and irrigation stand for ratio of paddy area, ratio of poor
drainage area, and irrigation rate, respectively.)

Roles of rice and upland crop rotation are discussed.
Taking agricultural land and water uses, groundwater level,
manpower and environmental aspect into consideration,
current crop rotation system is sustainable if at least current
amount of water withdrawal is ensured.
Acknowledgement
This study is supported by the Global Center of Excellence
for Dryland Science Program of Tottori University and theProject “Historical Interactions between the Multi-CulturalSocieties and the Natural Environment in a Semi-Arid Regionin Central Eurasia” of Research Institute for Humanity andNature. The authors would like to thank for their support.

Fig. 8. Water withdrawal and groundwater level in the study area.

References
rice area at Wells A, B, I, and L while clear correlation ofgroundwater level to the ratio of poor drainage area andirrigation rate is not observed. It is suggested that hugeamount of seepage from irrigation canals raise the groundwaterlevel in the whole irrigated area to some extent. More detailsurvey on affecting factors of groundwater fluctuation should
be conducted.
3.5. Suitability of crop rotation system
Taking all things related to land and water uses in the study
area into account, suitability of crop rotation system isdiscussed. Firstly, currently peak of groundwater level has

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Jetsu hydrogeology expedition of Committee on Water
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