Turkmenistan

Geography

Turkmenistan is the second largest of the 5 countries of Central Asia – located in south-western part of the region in desert zone, to the north from the Kopetdag of Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range, between the Caspian Sea in the west and the Amu Darya River in the east. The geographical position of the country is determined by the coordinates: 35° 08' and 42° 48' northern latitude and 52° 27' and 66° 41' eastern longitude. The length of the country from east to west is about 1100 km, from north to south - about 650 km. Turkmenistan borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

The climate of the country is characterized as sharply continental, slightly softened by the impact of the Caspian Sea. Summer is dry and hot: the average air temperature reaches its maximum of +38°С in July (maximum temperature in Repetek is +50°С, when the Kara Kum sand is heated to +80°С). Winter is cold: the average air temperature is -4°С in January, and only in the Atrek Valley in the south the temperature does not fall less than +4°С. Precipitations are 80-150 mm per year on the plains, up to 300 mm - in the foothills, and up to 400 mm - in the mountains.

Main rivers of the country: Amu Darya (runs through the territory of Turkmenistan for over 1000 km long, its water is diverted for irrigation), Tejen, Murghab and Atrek (flows into the Caspian Sea). The Kara Kum Channel, which is more than 1400 km long, crosses almost the entire country. There are a lot of large and small lakes formed by the drainage water in the country. The largest of them is the Sarykamysh Lake. In the ancient crease of Uzboy there are small freshwater lakes.

Population

Turkmenistan is a multinational country. It is inhabited by 40 nationalities, of which over 90% are Turkmens. The population of Turkmenistan is 5 640 000 people (up to 1 January 2002). The most part of the population consists of rural residents – 3 047 000 (54%). The density of population is 11.5 people per square km.

Agriculture

Agriculture is considered as the most important sector of the economics in Turkmenistan, which has been dynamically increasing the rate of growth of production in the framework of the functions defined by the National Program “Strategy of economic, political and cultural development of Turkmenistan until the year of 2020”. The development of agriculture in Turkmenistan is targeted on full satisfaction of needs of population in food products, and needs of industry – in raw materials. Each year the export potential of the industry has been increasing.

The share of agriculture production in total gross domestic product amounted to 18-19% in the 2000-2005 period.

Gradual raising of the agricultural production volume is achieved primarily through amelioration of land, use of chemical fertilizers, increasing the crop capacity and livestock productivity, and use of other methods of intensification of production processes.

The major fruit and nut crops grown in Turkmenistan include apple, pear, quince, apricot, peach, plum, alycha, silverberry, walnut and pistachio, figs, olives, mulberries, pomegranates, almonds, etc. In Turkmenistan, the most common culture apple (44%), apricot (19%), plum (8%), pears (6%), garnet (5.5%), peach (4%), all other kinds of fruit occupy 13.5% of the gardens. The area under fruit crops is about 23,5 thousand hectares, gross harvest of fruits is about 60 thousand tons.

Viticulture is the important component of agro-industries of the republic, providing people with fresh and dried grapes, which is also a raw material for wine-making and canning industry. The average harvest is 200 thousand tons per year.

Biodiversity

Key centers of biodiversity of Turkmenistan are mountain ecosystems of Kopetdag (Kopetdag-Khorasan), Koytendag (Hissar range of the Pamir-Alay system) and Badkhyz (Parapamiz foothills), where is concentrated the most of country's biodiversity. Biodiversity of Turkmenistan includes 3,140 species of higher plants and 3,924 species of lower plants and about 13 thousand species of animals. Turkmenistan has pledged to maintain this biodiversity, by ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1996.

In Turkmenistan the borders of the three major floristic provinces cross each other: Kopetdag-Khorasan, Central Asian Highlands and Turan, with transition areas of Badkhyz and Karabil. It reflects in the originality and specificity of biological and landscape diversity, carrying the features of both the Central Asian Mediterranean and the Turan desert.

For more than 100 years of study there were found in the country: 3924 species of lower plants, including soil bacterias - 42, algaes - 827, fungi - 2585, lichenoids – 470; 3140 species of higher plants, including bryophytes - 140 and vascular plants - 3000, which, in turn, include the class of the horsetail (2 species), pteridophytes (17), gymnosperms (12) and phanerogams, or angiosperms (2969 species). 400 species of vascular plants are endemic to Turkmenistan.

The Red Book of Turkmenistan consists of 109 species of plants, including: fungi – 3 species, lichenoids – 5 species, bryophytes – 2 species, pteridophytes – 6 species, gymnosperms – 1 species, and phanerogams – 92 species.

Fauna of Turkmenistan is considerably rich. It represents almost 13 thousand species. Of these, more than 700 species are vertebrates, including: fish - 115, amphibians - 5, reptiles - 82, birds - 404, and mammals - 106 species.

The Red Book of Turkmenistan includes 152 species (subspecies) of animals: 43 species of insects, 1 species of arachnids, 1 species of molluscoids, 1 species of cyclostomes, 12 species of fish, 1 species of amphibians, 22 species of reptiles, 41 species of birds, and 30 species of mammals.

The Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1996, 1998, 2000 included 98 species of flora and fauna of Turkmenistan, which indicates the high importance of the region to preserve not only national but also the world's biological and landscape diversity.

Agrobiodiversity

The Turkmenistan territory is a part of the Central Asian center of origin and domestication of plant genetic resources (Vavilov, 1931). The territory of Turkmenistan is also one of the primary centers of origin of many major food crops. And at the present in Turkmenistan there have been growing wild relatives of 172 cultivated plant species of the Central Asian genetic center (or 69% of the total number of species) which are the basis of modern agriculture. Wild species of melons, pumpkins and melons, onions (65 species), species of legumes (chickpeas, lentils, vetch, corn) and grain (rye, barley, millet, oats) crops are the raw materials for selection works. Many forest species (subspecies of Turkmen apple Sievers, the types of pears, cherries, plums, figs, almonds, pistachios, mountain ash, hawthorn, barberry, pomegranate, walnut, grape, etc., total: 40 species) represent a gene pool of wild relatives of horticultural crops adapted to local conditions. The presence of a large number of endemic species among the wild relatives of cultivated plants, peculiar only to the adjacent Kopetdag Khorasan, Koytendag and Badkhyz, underlines the global importance of the primary center of genetic diversity of plant resources in the origin of domesticated crops.

Traditional knowledge of local people on gardening, melon-growing, rainfed and irrigated agriculture are maintained and transferred usually from father to son, from grandfather to grandson. Socio-economic characteristics of Turkmenistan defined the leading role of agriculture in developing its economy. Agrobiodiversity of Turkmenistan is a component of traditional life and its national culture. Farmers (dayhans) are directly involved in corservation of agrobiodiversity.

List of target fruit crops, covered by the project in Turkmenistan

Apricot – Armeniaca vulgaris;
Alycha - Prunus cerasifera
Apple – Malus sp.;
Pear – Pyrus sp.;
Pomegranate – Punica granatum L.;
Fig - Ficus carica L.;
Grapes – Vitus sp.;
Almond - Amigdalus sp.;
Pistachio – Pistacia vera L.