The minister in rubber boots

TALAS — The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Melis Nurmatov, spent much of last week not in his office but on the canals of the Talas valley, in rubber boots, drawing up the rotation schedules for the main irrigation channels himself as the river ran at its lowest August level in years.

On Monday he drove to the gauging station at the Kazakh border to meet Kazakh water officials, who have complained that less water is reaching the lower Talas. Mr. Nurmatov, who is 63 and the oldest member of the cabinet, stood with them on the footbridge over the gauge for an hour. Officials who were present said the meeting ended with an agreement to share readings daily until September.

Back in the valley, farmers' associations were less impressed. They say the rotation favours the big commercial farms, whose turns on the canals fall at night when less water is lost, and the smallholders' turns in the heat of the day. "The minister has boots," said a farmer near Kara-Buura. "The big farms have the schedule."

The ministry said the rotation was "technical and fair" and would be reviewed when the river rose. The Irrigation Modernization Programme, which pays for lined canals and drip irrigation, has so far reached about a fifth of the valley.