*Corresponding author – Nurbekov2002@yahoo.com and Aziz.Nurbekov@fao.org

Agricultural sector in Central Asian countries is facing production reduction due to soil erosion, soil salinity and desertification. Growing evidence exists of the productivity, economic and environmental benefits that can be harnessed from using conservation agriculture (CA) practices in Central Asia, but several challenges need to be addressed.

These challenges include the need to: mobilize policy and institutional support, facilitate the change of the tillage mind-set, develop the skills to operate CA equipment, make CA equipment available and accessible, and to develop the expertise and knowledge for residue and weed management.

Several collaborative research and development projects have been implemented to promote CA in Central Asia by both ICARDA and FAO. No-till and raised-bed planting practices tested in the Karakalpakstan and Tashkent provinces of Uzbekistan have proven to be technically and economically suitable for local conditions, and can provide similar or higher crop yields while saving considerable production resources and costs including fuel, seeds and labour.

These practices are ready to be disseminated more widely in Uzbekistan. Current evidence from Central Asian countries indicates that CA practices are suitable for the existing major cropping systems. CA is not a single or uniform technology that can be immediately applied anywhere in a standard manner.

Rather, it represents a set of principles that encourage the formulation of locally adapted practices, approaches and methods, which need to be tested, evaluated and then adopted or implemented under various biophysical and socio-economic conditions.