EC IFAS Chairman participated in a panel session on "Ensuring Food Security in Central Asia» within IV Astana Economic Forum.

In his speech, Chairman of EC IFAS touched on the issues of the relationship of water resources and food security in Central Asia.

Agricultural and water policies in Central Asia should be a platform to support the effective implementation of IWRM principles and as well as to ensure the growth of food production.

Factors of a country's food security, water availability and their transboundary character, conservation of soil fertility with obligatory introduction of crop rotation, producing a highly profitable agricultural production must be taken into account in the respective estimates and forecasts of irrigated agriculture development in each of the Central Asian states.

It was also highlighted in the presentation that in order to improve productivity and efficiency of water use in agriculture with the purpose of ensuring food security, eradicating poverty and hunger and protecting the environment the innovative and upgraded irrigation and drainage systems and approaches to water management are required.

The draft Action Program on providing assistance to the countries of the Aral Sea Basin for the period of 2011-2015 (ASBP-3), developed jointly with the Executive Committee of IFAS and ICSD ICWC, and which is now mostly agreed upon by all IFAS member states, reflects the food security issues in the following regional projects:

1. Water and economic development. Demand Management

2. Improvement of monitoring system for irrigation water

3. Revival of the monitoring system for irrigated lands

4. Strengthening capacity of water user associations

5. Improvement of melioration of irrigated lands

6. Increasing employment in rural areas

7. Pasture improvement of Priaral’ye

To date, the UN FAO has prepared a program for the Central Asian countries on the topic of "Water and Food Security", which objectives include introduction of innovations in the agricultural sector to achieve food security.