Caspian Sea 2011

State of the Environment of the Caspian Sea

Table 5. Yield of wheat in Caspian Sea littoral states, tonnes/hectares

Country

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Azerbaijan Whole country*

2.38 2.65 2.67 2.65 2.65 2.65 2.65 2.71 2.79 2.66 Iran, Islamic Republic of (including irrigated)** 1.7 1.99 2.1 2.21 2.06 2.37 2.2 1.56 2.03 Golestan(rainfed only) 2.22 Guilan(rainfed only) 1.03 Mazandaran(rainfed only) 1.21 Kazakhstan Atyrau oblast*** 0.96 0.57 0.53 1.18 0.31 0.11 0.09 0.12 0.65 Mangystau oblast na na na Na na na na na na na Russian Federation**** Astrakhan oblast 1.21 1.79 Dagestan, Republic of 2.25 1.79 Kalmykiya, Republic of 1.81 1.5

Source: Source. * - http://www.azstat.org/statinfo/agriculture/en/index.shtml; ** - FAOSTAT database at http:// faostat.fao.org;*** - http://www.atyrau.stat.kz; ****-

pecially in the livestock sector, and investments have fallen to an average of 0.035 per cent of the total investments during the period 2005-2009. While nominal monthly wages in agriculture over the same period increased almost twice (103% for Mangistau and 102% for Atyrau), they still only amount to about 26% of average monthly wages in the region (The Agency of Statistics of the Re- public of Kazakhstan, Department of Statistics of Atyrau region and Mangystau region). In the future, envisaged climate change, the re- distribution of precipitation, an increase of fre- quency and intensity of droughts based on air temperature increase, will entail negative con- sequences particularly in agriculture and water management in Kazakhstan (Kudekov 2006). In other Caspian Sea countries, the agricultural sector percentage share in the national economy has not significantly changed and varies at be- tween 5 to 10 per cent of GDP. Environmental indicators suggest that crop and soil conditions have deteriorated over time, reflected in the number of abandoned crop production areas.

are least dependent on fertilizers, irrigation and manual inputs during the growing period. Therefore, the performance of these crops, in terms of production and areas planted, can be used as an indirect indicator of general soil conditions, climatic changes and the overall state of agricultural production. In the Caspian Sea region, this applies to wheat and other grains, mostly grown without irrigation and not generally requiring other inputs 6 . In Table 5, wheat production in certain areas is compared. While production has increased in Azerbaijan and Iran since 2000, land productivity has decreased in the Caspian Sea regions of the Russian Federation (except Astrakhan) and Kazakhstan. The production area for wheat and beans in the Russian coastal area of the Caspian Sea has re- duced significantly during last 10 years. While the total sowing area was reduced by about 4 per cent in the period 2000-08, the area of land for wheat and bean production was reduced by 11% — from 407.2 thousand hectares to 363.7 thousand hec- tares (Russian Federation Federal State Statistics

6 It is to be noted that Turkmenistan’s grain production in the east of Balkan velayat requires intensive irrigation. Closer to the Caspian Sea, in the southern areas (Atrek region), there is small-scale dry farming.

The crops most dependent on general climatic and environmental conditions are those which

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