As part of Franz Schulze ‘s doctoral project, a three-week field campaign in the Khorezm region (Uzbekistan) was completed in collaboration with the University of Urgench. It forms the empirical basis for a remote sensing-based analysis of agricultural transformation processes over the past decade.
The region is completely dependent on the Amu-Darya as the only source of water for its intensively irrigated agriculture. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the cotton-centred system proved to be less resilient to increasing water scarcity. Since then, agronomic measures such as laser levelling, drip irrigation and diversified land use – for example through mixed cultivation systems with rows of fruit trees – have triggered structural changes that suggest greater resilience.
The aim of the PhD project is to use historical satellite data and specific remote sensing models to understand how these developments were implemented subregionally and what effects they had on water consumption.
The campaign was carried out together with doctoral and master’s students from various disciplines at the University of Urgench. It included interviews with farmers from across the region, field inspections and the installation of groundwater level measuring devices.
