The area of water-saving farmland in Kazakhstan has nearly tripled. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
According to the government's press service, while modern irrigation systems were used on 237,100 hectares in 2023, the figure reached 702,300 hectares as of September 1, 2026. This accounts for 36% of the country's irrigated land.
"Since the beginning of 2026 alone, water-saving technologies have been introduced on an additional 158,800 hectares," the statement reads.
Drip irrigation area grew roughly sixfold
The area of drip irrigation increased from 42,500 hectares in 2023 to 254,300 hectares this year. Over the same period, the area of sprinkler irrigation doubled from 188,300 to 379,000 hectares.
"By 2030, the area using water-saving technologies is planned to reach 1.3 million hectares, which is expected to save 2.2 billion cubic meters of water annually, or up to 30% of the water used for irrigation," experts say.
State support for water-saving technologies is growing
The share of reimbursement for the purchase and installation of such systems has been increased from 60% to 80%, while the volume of subsidies for irrigation water costs when using them has grown from 50% to 85%. A total of 214.6 billion tenge is earmarked for investment subsidies for water-saving technologies in 2026-2028. This is roughly four times more than in the previous three-year period.
Number of domestic plants grew from four to seven
Over two years, the number of domestic enterprises in this segment grew from four to seven. Their combined production capacity is 3,390 sprinkler machines per year. This is enough to irrigate approximately 205,000 hectares.
With the country's annual domestic demand at 1,000-1,200 machines, the current production volume can generally fully meet farmers' demand.