Spatio-Temporal Reorganization of Cropland Development in Central Asia during the Post-Soviet Era: A Sustainable Implication in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The abandonment and cultivation of croplands in the Eurasian Steppe has become the focus of global and regional food security and agricultural policy-making. A large area of cropland in some post-Soviet countries has proven to be abandoned with the disintegration of the Soviet Union; however, it is unclear as to whether Kazakhstan also experienced a similar change as one of the main food providers for the former Soviet Union. In this study, we used the annual land cover dataset (1992–2015) from the European Space Agency, Climate Change Initiative (ESA-CCI) to detect spatio-temporal characteristics of rainfed and irrigated cropland changes in Kazakhstan. The Mann–Kendall test and regime shift analysis showed that rainfed and irrigated cropland at national level had a significant increasing trend with a significant rising up to 1999 and stagnation during 2000–2015, which was further confirmed with analysis at 14 regions. The greatest contributor to rainfed and irrigated croplands was steppes, followed by shrinkage of water bodies since 2005 to a great extent, rapid urbanization process resulted in losses of a part of irrigated oases. The trend surface analysis indicated that reorganized stable pattern characterized by rainfed cropland in north and irrigated cropland in south was driven by the strategy of the gradual agricultural development of oases. The nonexistence of cycle between the abandonment and recultivation proved that newly-gained cropland from steppe may be less degraded and more productive for sustainable land use in Kazakhstan. In conclusion, this study can provide strong evidence for sustainable land use and a basis for food security policy-making in Kazakhstan, and even all of the Central Asian countries in the future.

Temporal and Spatial Changes in Crop Water Use Efficiency in Central Asia from 1960 to 2016

“…The collapse of the Soviet Union occurred simultaneously with political and management system reform in Central Asia [7,8]. A large amount of cultivated land was abandoned due to a lack of labor and agricultural machinery, such as in northern Kazakhstan [9]. By the end of the 20th century, the total sown area of Central Asia had decreased by nearly 50%.…”

Nonlinear Changes in Dryland Vegetation Greenness over East Inner Mongolia, China, in Recent Years from Satellite Time Series

“…We obtained the 300 m CCI land cover product for 2000 from . In this product, land cover types is classified using the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) classification system [ 40 ], and we combined the original land cover types at a broader level for further analysis using the reclassification rule presented in [ 41 ]. This rule holds for rainfed and irrigated croplands and is therefore helpful for analyzing the drivers of changes in greenness in dryland agricultural areas.…”

Theoretical Approaches and Practical Assessment of Socio-Economic Effects of Desertification in Mongolia

“…According to studies by [39][40][41], public opinion surveys can shape the development of national environmental policies, mechanisms for the preservation of landscapes, and the implementation of projects and programs. The identification of the most degraded agricultural areas using GIS tools allowed the selection of respondents for surveys among local farmers [42].…”