Farmers in Kyrgyz remote village divert river flow manually to irrigate their fields

AKIPRESS.COM - Farmers of Ak-Tal village, remote Ak-Tala district, Naryn region, manually diverted water from the Naryn river to the Naryn-Aryk Canal for irrigation of agricultural fields, Turmush reported. They entered into the cold water to direct the water flow with their hands to irrigate 460 ha of arable land in Ak-Tal village.
Farmers encounter lack of water for irrigation every year, since special vehicles can't reach the village to divert the water from the river. There is no other way out except for manual diversion.
This problem arouses every year, district water resources department chief Baishbek Akmatov said.
"Vehicles can't get to the village after the water level rises. More than 60 farmers entered into a cold water and using stones, animal skins, tree branches, other materials diverted the water flow from the Naryn river to the Naryn-Aryk canal. A special facility should be constructed to resolve this problem. We plan to start construction of this facility in autumn," Baishbek Akmatov said.