Irrigated agriculture accounts for over 60 percent of Kazakhstan’s total water withdrawals, concentrated primarily in five southern regions where irrigation is essential for rural livelihoods. While irrigated land is projected to expand to about 2.5 million hectares by 2030, less than one-third of this area currently uses modern water-saving technologies. . At the same time, around half of the country’s irrigation canals are in need of reconstruction due to significant wear.

As a result, water delivery efficiency remains critically low: of every 1 million cubic metres abstracted from rivers, only 400,000–450,000 cubic metres reach farmland, compared to the benchmark of 700,000 cubic metres. Overall system losses reach up to 60 percent, while the productivity of irrigated land remains two to four times lower than in comparable countries. Key river basins, including Aral–Syr Darya and Shu–Talas, are highly dependent on upstream inflows, making them increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and transboundary pressures. These challenges underscore the urgency of modernization, digitalization and improved water-use efficiency.

Representatives of the Islamic Development Bank and the Eurasian Development Bank reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Kazakhstan’s efforts to modernize the water sector and strengthen institutional capacity.

“The water agenda in Central Asia requires systematic and coordinated solutions at both the regional level and the national level of individual countries. The joint work of the Eurasian Development Bank with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the United Nations Development Programme demonstrates the strength of partnerships that bring together financial, institutional, and expert resources for the sustainable management of the region’s water resources,” noted Arman Akhunbayev, Head of the Sectoral Analysis Center of the Analytical Directorate of the Eurasian Development Bank.