INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR WATERING PASTURES IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN UNDER CONDITIONS OF FRESHWATER SCARCITY

The progressive development of animal husbandry is possible only if there is a stable food supply, which, to some extent, protects against anthropogenic and climatic risks. The geographical feature of the territory of Kazakhstan is that 64% of it is occupied by pastures, which determined its historical development as a livestock country. According to the Kazgiprozem Institute (1975), the total nutritional value of the country's annually renewable pasture resources is 25-28 million tons of fodder units, at a cost of 1.2 billion US dollars (World Bank data, 1994). Such a volume of feed, of course, can and should be the basis of feed production for the developing livestock industry. One of the economic barriers preventing the systematic use of pastures is the watering of pastures. The presence of 189 million hectares of pastures cannot be rationally used due to the shortage of reservoirs. Natural water sources (rivers, streams, lakes, springs, etc.) can provide no more than 40% of all pasture lands. The rest of the pasture area requires the creation of engineering structures to raise groundwater and use it. Therefore, the growing number of livestock is mainly concentrated in such lands where the repaired water source is located. The new economic conditions in rural areas, as well as the changed environmental criteria, require new approaches to solving the organizational and technological problems of agricultural irrigation and water supply based on groundwater. The general trends in the development of water supply and irrigation indicate that the use of groundwater in the Republic of Kazakhstan should increase significantly. This is due to both its vast resources and the growing demand.