Ebook: Climate change effects on irrigated agriculture: perspectives from agricultural producers in eastern Uzbekistan

Sustainability of irrigated agricultural development has been severely impacted byglobal climate change in recent decades, which is among the main environmental and economicproblems facing the world community. The article presents the results of the research conductedin selected areas of irrigated agriculture in eastern Uzbekistan to study the impact of climatechange on agricultural production and the agricultural producer's perspective and awareness.Major factors affecting agricultural producers' behavior under climate change and their currentpractices and skills for adapting to climate change were studied. The field study has beenconducted in 9 districts located in two regions of the Ferghana valley. The respondents-representatives of agricultural producers selected from the list of Farmer's Associations memberstaking their location relative to irrigation water sources into account. Quantitative analysis ofdata carried out with the use of SPSS-22 software. As the research results show, the impact ofclimate change on irrigated agriculture has become incredibly tangible in the last decade. Itaffected the situation with losses in yields of up to 16% and decreasing the quality of agriculturalproducts. The rural population's vulnerability factors include low income from agriculture, acutedependence on irrigation in conditions of increasing water scarcity, low level of appliedtechnologies, adaptation measures, low yields, land degradation, etc. Analysis of the researchresults, and other related studies on this issue, allows us to indicate directions for improvingadaptation measures in the short, medium, and long-term periods.

Keywords: Impact of Climate Change, Irrigated Agriculture, Awareness, Adaptation