Agricultural smart irrigation main buyer country

When they talk aboutagricultural smart irrigation, immediately represent Europe or the USA, but the actual volumes of purchases over the past three years show an amazing picture - 62% of export contracts for remote-controlled drip systems go to Uzbekistan. This is not the data that you will find in glossy brochures; we ourselves were surprised until we started analyzing shipment logs.

Why Central Asia has become a key market

In 2021, we delivered the first trial batch of GSM-controlled valves to the Fergana Valley. Local agronomists then skeptically twisted their fingers at their temples - they say, we have had water flowing from irrigation ditches for centuries, why all these difficulties. A season later, the same people demanded that the system be expanded by 300 hectares after they saw the difference in water consumption in the cotton fields.

The climatic features of the region dictate harsh conditions. Summer temperatures of 45°C mean watering at night, and manual irrigation means crews of 10-15 people per 100 hectares. Automation not only saves water - it reduces the wage fund by 30%, which is critical during seasonal labor shortages.

But there is a nuance that is rarely written about in technical documentation. Standard European soil moisture sensors are unstable here due to the high salt content. I had to work with technologists fromShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltdmodify sensors, increasing the calibration range. You don't know these details until you work in the field.

Technological barriers and local adaptation

Our project in Kazakhstan almost failed because of a simple thing - the quality of communication in the steppe regions. A system with second-by-second monitoring developed for European conditions turned out to be redundant where the GSM signal appears 3-4 times a day. It was necessary to rewrite data transfer protocols so that the equipment could operate autonomously for up to 72 hours.

It was then that we began close cooperation with engineers from the site https://www.lyzhihuinongye.ru. Their approach to designing hydraulic structures taking into account local water salinity reduced the number of filter failures by 40%. This is not an advertising slogan - specific numbers from the 2022 operating report.

The most difficult thing is to convince local farmers of the reliability of the automation. For decades they relied on visual assessments of plant health and almost religiously followed watering schedules passed down from generation to generation. A case in point: in the Tashkent region, a parallel traditional irrigation system had to be left in place for the first 6 months to demonstrate the effectiveness of smart irrigation in comparison.

Economics of water: non-obvious calculations

Many suppliers focus on saving water, but for agricultural producers in Uzbekistan, soil salinity control turned out to be more important. Traditional flood irrigation washes away nutrients, while drip irrigation allows for precise dosing of not only water, but also fertilizer.

In the Samarkand-Agro cooperative, after introducing our systems, they were able to reduce the use of mineral fertilizers by 25% without loss of alfalfa yield. This was made possible by precise application under the root zone, rather than by spraying across the field.

An interesting point: initially we offered systems with maximum automation, but it turned out that farmers want to retain the possibility of manual intervention. Not because of a lack of trust in technology, but because many years of experience tell them nuances that sensors cannot catch - for example, changes in wind or the special state of plants before a sandstorm.

Regional features of installation and maintenance

A typical mistake of foreign suppliers is an attempt to transfer European installation standards without adaptation. In the conditions of Central Asia, it is necessary to take into account the seasonality of work - installation is possible only during certain periods, coinciding with the windows between harvesting campaigns.

We have learned to complete systems taking into account local logistics. For example, using steel pipes instead of plastic in areas with high rodent activity, although this increases the cost by 15%. But it’s cheaper to overpay once than to replace chewed pipes every season.

The service network is a separate headache. In remote areas, technicians are available quarterly, so systems are designed to be robust and allow key modules to be quickly replaced by local mechanics. EquipmentShandong Lingyao Co.,Ltdhere it proved to be better than many - the modular design allows you to replace failed components without stopping the entire system.

Development prospects and new challenges

Now there is an interesting trend - the transition from simple irrigation automation to complex solutions. Farmers are beginning to realize thatsmart irrigationThis is not just a remote water switch, but a tool for managing the entire production cycle.

Last month we launched a pilot project in the Khorezm region, where the irrigation system is integrated with weather stations and satellite monitoring data. Preliminary results show that this approach not only saves water, but also predicts yields with an accuracy of 12%.

The main obstacle to scaling is not technological, but personnel. There is a catastrophic shortage of local specialists capable of maintaining complex systems. We started a training program with the support of local agricultural universities, but this is a long-term investment - the first graduates will appear only after 3 years.

What really changes the situation is a change in the state's attitude towards water use. Subsidies for the implementation of water-saving technologies cover up to 50% of costs, which makes automation affordable for medium-sized farms. Without such support, the market would have developed much more slowly.