Reforms in Rural Development and their Influence on Agricultural Extension of Uzbekistan: Experience and Challenges in Water Management

Nowadays science applies agricultural innovations in a wide range all over the world; however, number of water users in innovations is in smaller amounts. This might happen to a number of factors, for example lack of adequate knowledge exchange system, nominal extension services at places, lack of well-defined policies, barriers in ‘human’ minds change’, barriers at policy level. As for Uzbekistan, it could be said that practice of extension of innovations application and its diffusion in agricultural irrigation sector in Uzbekistan does not have much experience, however, before 1991 Uzbekistan was one of the Soviet Unions’ republics and as it is known, the Soviet Union had high practice in innovations in different sectors, as well as in agriculture. Although, since independence, Uzbekistan has continued to experience innovations in agricultural sector independently, their diffusion is at a challenging shape. This article captures the policy issue, how Uzbekistan started to develop water management issues in its economic reforms, it describes a case research on application of innovative technique on a farm level and accordingly, it tries to propose the aspects that need to be involved in future reforms to make the current situation be better managed.