American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 104 | P a g e IRRIGATION SYSTEM OF THE CENTRAL FERGHANA AND ITS MAIN PECULIARITIES (1950-1990) Maftunakhon Yuldashevna Ruzikulova Associate Professor of Kokand State Pedagogical Institute, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in History, Republic of Uzbekistan Abstract In the article has been analyzed the main peculiarities of irrigation system of Central Ferghana in 1950-199o, as well as, organization of districts and state farms in these areas specialized to cotton - growing on the principles of cotton monopoly policy of the Soviet Government and increase of provision of cotton to the centre and its negative results are elucidated with the help of primary sources and literatures as well. Keywords: Irrigation system, Central Ferghana, virgin lands, collective farms, Soviet government, cotton monopoly. INTRODUCTION As we know, for the purpose of further development and increase of cotton cultivation in the republic, the Soviet government began to pay attention to the Fergana Valley, which is considered a favorable area for irrigated agriculture. Based on these aspects, in the fifth five-year plan (1951-1955) and in the resolutions of the 9th session of the KP (b) of Uzbekistan, held in 1952, the further improvement of cotton cultivation, as well as the expansion of the irrigated land in the Ferghana Valley and the development of reserve lands were emphasized as the main issues. In order to implement the above tasks and the decisions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Central Committee of the KP of Uzbekistan and the government of the republic adopted an expanded decision on September 16, 1952, and in it, practical tasks were defined for the purpose of acquiring the first and second turns of Central Ferghana lands and irrigation [1 ,26]. At the same time, these decisions noted the appropriation of desert lands in Central Fergana in the amount of 36,000 ha from 1953 to 1958. RESEARCH METHODS After the independence of Uzbekistan, special attention was paid to the objective and scientific research of the history of irrigation. In particular, in the priorities of the strategy of actions for the five priority directions of the development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021, the priority directions for the modernization and rapid development of agriculture include “improving the reclamation condition of irrigated lands, development of networks of reclamation and irrigation facilities, intensive American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 105 | P a g e methods in the field of agricultural production, first of all, important tasks such as introduction of modern agrotechnologies that save water and resources, use of agricultural machinery with high productivity” [2,16] are defined. Therefore, the study of the history of irrigation and exploitation was considered important in all periods. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Many decisions were taken by the Soviet government on measures for the development of new lands in the republic and further development of the irrigation system. On November 16, 1952, according to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR, irrigation of 65,000 hectares of new and protected lands of Central Ferghana was considered [3,31]. Including Yozyovon and Kizil Tigin deserts - 30,000 ha; According to the Ulughnor canal system - 6,000 ha; according to the Okhunboboev canal system - 14,000 hectares; 15,000 hectares of protected and neglected lands in Ferghana, Andizhan and Namangan regions. From the fifth five-year period (1951-1955), the development of reserve lands of Central Ferghana began. An appeal was received regarding the involvement of the youth of the republic in the implementation of this event. Because only in 1954 - 1958, 600,000 should be appropriated in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In response to the appeal, 1700 young people came to develop Central Ferghana reserve lands in 1954[4,35]. In the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU “On the further development of cotton cultivation in the Uzbek SSR in 1954- 1958” [5,3] dated February 9, 1954, the development and irrigation of 142 thousand hectares in the Ferghana Valley, including 116 thousand hectares in Central Ferghana, was envisaged. In particular, from 1950 to 1954, 2,803 hectares of land were appropriated in Boz district, and 2,960 hectares of new land were appropriated in 1953-1958 [6,5]. It was shown that the gross area of Central Ferghana is 532,400 ha, including the net (net) area of 363,700 ha, of which 190,500 ha of appropriated land existed until January 1, 1953 [7, 28]. It was recognized by the Inter-Kolkhoz Soviet that from 1953 to 1956, the “Ferghanavodstroy” trust carried out a significant level of work on the development of reserves and gray lands in Central Ferghana [8, 5]. According to the decision of the Central Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR dated October 20, 1953 “On the expansion of irrigated land in the Uzbek SSR and measures for the further development of water management”, the increase of irrigated areas in Namangan region in 1958 was 38,000 ha compared to 1952 ratio were compared and reviewed. The growth of these areas on Central Ferghana lands was 28,000 hectares, and 25,000 hectares should be ready for planting in 1953-1955 [9, 1]. In Central Ferghana, the total area of reserves and gray lands under development since January 1, 1953 is 173.2 thousand, including 89.6 American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 106 | P a g e thousand in Ferghana region, 83.6 in Andizhan region [10, 6]. During the years 1953- 1955, reserve land in Gulbog state farm amounted to 1.6 thousand, new land to 6.3 thousand, and new land to Damkol new irrigation massif to 3.5 thousand [11,3]. 8-10 tons of cotton was obtained from one hectare of collective farms established on appropriated lands. According to the results of the works planned to be carried out by the construction organizations according to the 1955 plan, not a single object was completed and was not put into operation. Preparation of new lands in terms of irrigation and melioration was carried out on an area of 50,669 ha, including 21,092 ha in Ferghana region, 13,862 ha in Andizhan region, and 15,672 ha in Namangan region. 27,332 hectares of land were considered ready for irrigation and melioration, of which 17,592 hectares are reserve lands [13,2]. On March 18, 1957, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Uzbek SSR issued an order “On strengthening the irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands” in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers of the KP of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR dated February 26, 1957 [14,107]. Based on it, the plan for irrigation and economic development of Central Ferghana lands in the period of 1956-1961 established 80,000 hectares of reserves and gray lands, including 32,000 ha in Ferghana region, 28,000 ha in Andizhan region, In Namangan region - 20,000 ha. On August 17, 1957, the complex scheme of new land development and irrigation in Central Ferghana was considered by the chairman of the executive committee of Andizhan region at the meeting of the technical council. At the meeting, it was noted that the scheme of irrigation and development of new lands took 173.2 thousand, of which 36.4 thousand in Andizhan region, 49.7 thousand in Namangan region, and 87.1 thousand in Ferghana region [15,12]. On March 18, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the decision “On the development of new and reserve (waste) land for the harvest of 1958.” According to the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated September 23, 1957, preparation for the development of new and reserve lands for the harvest of 1958, it was noted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR that 36,200 hectares of land in the republic’s regions and the Karakalpakstan ASSR is being unsatisfactorily developed. As of March 10, 1958, only 25,000 ha of irrigation and melioration were prepared, and according to the plan, the planning of the area from 29,000 ha to 17,200 ha was carried out [16, 9]. The executive committees of Ferghana, Namangan and Andizhan regions were assigned the task of canceling all debts of collective farms and ensuring indebtedness to the Inter-Kolkhoz Soviet for the construction of the Central Ferghana waterworks. On April 21, 1958, the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the decision “On strengthening the work on irrigation and development of new and protected lands in American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 107 | P a g e Central Ferghana” [17,95]. According to the 1957 plan, an area of 12,600 ha was to be prepared for irrigation and melioration by the Ministry of Water Management of the USSR and its “Ferghanavodstroy” construction trust, and instead 4,600 ha was prepared. As of January 1, 1959, 377,826,00 thousand rubles of capital funds were prepared for the operation of all Central Ferghana facilities, of which only 172,644,64 thousand rubles were allocated for operation [18,43]. On January 23 of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the SSR of Uzbekistan adopted the decision “On approval of the program of construction work on irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands in 1959” [19, 36]. According to this established plan, the amount of irrigated land in the Central Ferghana massif was planned to be 13,000, but in practice it was 10,230, including 7,228 for planting in 1959 [20, 285]. On August 3, 1959, the Central Committee of the CP of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR adopted the decision “On irrigation and development of reserve and gray lands in Central Ferghana in 1959-1965” [21,48]. On the basis of this decision, a large amount of work was carried out to further increase the water supply of Central Ferghana regions and improve land reclamation. “More than 36,000 hectares of gray and neglected abandoned lands were included in the agricultural turnover, more than 250 km of highways were built, and 22 collective farm settlements were established” [22,24]. On November 9 of this year, in accordance with the above decision, the Andizhan Regional Department of Agriculture announced the order “On the irrigation and development of reserve and gray lands in Central Ferghana in 1959-1965” [23, 203], and 24.8 hectares to be newly developed in Central Ferghana in 1959-1965. The task of land preparation in the amount of ha was approved by district [24,26]. During 1959, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management of the UZSSR was tasked with reviewing the main scheme of irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands and its projects on separate areas, expanding the area of project farms by 2.0 - 2.5 thousand ha [25,52]. On March 18, 1960, the Ministry of Water Management of the UzSSR announced the order “On the program of construction work on irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands in 1960” [26, 67]. In this order, the plan of the Ministry of Water Management of the UZSSR to provide the facilities of Central Ferghana with capital funds was established and the “Ferghanavodstroy” trust was approved to be provided with funds in the amount of 111,151 thousand rubles in 1960. On March 21, 1960, the Ministry of Agriculture of the UZSSR issued an order “On the approval of construction work programs for irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands in 1960” [27,124]. In this order, based on the decision of the Council of Ministers of the KP of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the Uz SSR on March 9, 1960, the following was approved, including the allocation of funds in the amount of 187,156 thousand American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 108 | P a g e rubles in 1960 to the program of construction works on irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands. On July 14, 1960, the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the implementation of the plan for the payment of funds from the indivisible fund of collective farms for construction works on irrigation and development of new lands” was supposed to spend 43,210 thousand rubles on construction works by the inter-collective soviet, but in practice only 17,874 thousand rubles were used. “Ferghanavodstroy” trust invested 10,629,000 rubles out of 22,400,000 rubles for the construction of water management [28, 28]. On May 12, 1961, the Central Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR adopted the decision “On the development of reserve lands in Central Ferghana” [29, 232]. In this decision, the Ministry of Water and Agriculture of the UZSSR, the Andizhan regional party committee and the regional executive committee approved the proposal to end all irrigation works in Central Ferghana lands in 1965. From 1953 to 1961, 60,600 ha of land was prepared for irrigation and melioration, and in 1960, 41,000 ha were planted in collective farms and state farms [30, 16]. In 1961-1965 - in 1961-1965 - irrigation of all the remaining reserve lands in the area of 122.2 thousand hectares of the Central Ferghana lands, 67.8 thousand hectares in the Ferghana region and 54.4 thousand hectares in the Andizhan region, according to the decision to complete the general works of the Central Ferghana lands. was prepared in the case of economic exploitation and irrigation-melioration [31, 237]. All Central Ferghana lands were prepared in terms of irrigation and melioration in the total volume of 122.2 thousand ha. This is a much higher indicator in the field of land preparation for irrigation and melioration compared to previous years. Agricultural development works in 1961-1965 totaled 101 thousand, of which 60.2 thousand fell to collective farms, as well as 40.8 to economically appropriated state farms. In a short period of time, the following proposals of regional organizations were accepted in 1961-1966, taking into account the development of reserves and gray lands in Central Ferghana and the possibilities of collective farms in the Ferghana Valley. According to it, 20,300 hectares of existing state cotton farms on reserve lands and 17,300 hectares of state farms will be established in Ferghana region, 8,600 hectares of existing state farms and 20,600 hectares of state farms will be established in Andizhan region [32, 3]. Until July 1, 1961, the Inter-Kolkhoz Soviet worked in the regions of Fergana and Andizhan on irrigation and development of Central Ferghana lands. In 1960, the Inter- Kolkhoz Soviet 7710 ha discussed the issue of preparation of land for irrigation and melioration. 2,240 of them belong to Andizhan region, 5,470 to Ferghana region. In the report of 1961, only 6333 ha of land in Ferghana region was prepared for irrigation and melioration [33,21]. Of that, 5030 were allocated for initial preparation of reserve lands, and 1303 were allocated for repeated works on previously prepared lands. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 109 | P a g e In the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on September 2, 1962, development and irrigation works carried out in Ferghana and Andizhan regions of the UzSSR, that is, in Central Ferghana lands, were envisaged [34,15]. Over the past years, a significant amount of work has been done in Central Ferghana. 60,000 new lands were brought into agricultural circulation, 22 new collective farms and 2 state cotton farms were founded, many irrigation and drying collective farms, highways and collective farms and state farms for 26 settlements were established. Before 1964, more than 2,000 km of various canals, more than 2,000 km of underground canal- pipes and collectors, and more than 7,000 hydrotechnical structures were built in the newly irrigated massifs of Central Ferghana [35, 48]. According to the decision of the Central Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on September 21, 1964 “On preparation of new and gray land for planting in 1965” by the Ferghana Regional Rural Executive Committee during the period of planting new land in the region in 1965 - 6093, of which 984 came from agricultural turnover in 1964 , 3958 ha were prepared for planting in Central Ferghana, and new preparation work was carried out on 1151 ha [36, 36]. In 1966, there were 5,590 lands to be developed in Boz district, and the work on development of new lands was carried out in an unsatisfactory manner. In particular, over the last five years, 2,880 new lands were appropriated in the district, and about 6 million rubles were spent on these works [37, 3]. In 1971-1975, the amount spent on the capital construction of Ferghana regional water industry was 160.6 million. 139.7 thousand rubles, including construction and assembly works. Also, 4.4 mln. to build houses for workers of Ferghana Region Irrigation Department, Big Ferghana Canal and construction organizations. rubles, including 3.9 million for construction and assembly works. Ruble funds were allocated, 0.44 million for cultural and educational events. funds have been spent. As a result of sparing use of water resources in cotton farming, the problem of water shortage has increased. Soviet authorities did not constantly pay attention to the elimination of this problem. For example, in 1976, 16.0 million was spent on the fight against water shortage in Andizhan region. 14.5 million rubles of capital funds. rubles were used for construction and assembly works. The second turn of the “Bakht” pumping station, the first rise of the “Qadim” pumping station, the capacity is 3.0 mln. The first line of the “Moscow” water reservoir, the second line of the “Haqiqat” autocar channel, and the 50th anniversary channel of the Komsomol of Uzbekistan were built. In the Boz (Boston) district, which was established as a reserve, 40 ha of land was developed in eleven months of 1978, land reclamation of 1442 ha was improved, capital planning was carried out on 662 ha of land, irrigation networks on 1100 ha of land were reconstructed, 14 km of roads were built and gravelled, and 16, 5 km closed ditch was built and commissioned [38, 88]. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 12, Jan., 2023 110 | P a g e CONCLUSION To conclude, the high level of development of irrigation and melioration works in the lands of Central Fergana, as well as the development of agriculture, especially the cotton sector, caused some negative consequences along with positive aspects. Irrigation works were carried out here in 1950-1980. 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