Grammatical Dans

L E Dictionnaire De L'académie

Francaise Rey

RÉFLEXIONS AUTOUR DU VOCABULAIRE

Cette communication constitue une réflexion autour de la métalangue grammaticale recensée dans les huit premières éditions du Dictionnaire de l'Académie française. En s'appuyant notamment sur la question du marquage du domaine grammatical, l'étude proposée esquisse en quelque sorte les contours de l'histoire interne d'une discipline au sein de l'un des plus importants monuments de la lexicographie française.

De 1694 à 1932, histoire d'une maturation lexicale

Deux raisons distinctes ont motivé le choix du Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française (désormais DAF) comme cadre de travail.

En premier lieu, si nous exceptons les parutions "clandestines" du Dictionnaire François de César-Pierre Richelet en 1680 (désormais DF) et du Dictionnaire Universel d'Antoine Furetière en 1690 (désormais DU), le DAF constitue le premier dictionnaire monolingue officiel dont l'état français s'est doté. Paru quelques années après le DF et le DU, ce dernier constitue donc un témoin privilégié pour mener notre étude sur la théorisation du vocabulaire grammatical français. D'autre part, la parution successive des diverses éditions du DAF offre une opportunité toute trouvée de conduire l'étude diachronique que nous envisageons. Le parcours au sein de cet ouvrage va nous permettre de mettre en évidence les évolutions terminologiques relatives à un lexique de spécialité à travers l'une des vitrines institutionnelles françaises majeures.

Les travaux entrepris depuis le début des années 80 en matière d'informatisation des dictionnaires anciens offrent aujourd'hui des capacités et des facilités de travail considérables aux lexicographes et amoureux du lexique en tous genres. Notre communication se propose d'illustrer le type d'étude pouvant découler de la richesse offerte par les éditions électroniques des différents monuments de notre passé.

En nous appuyant sur la version informatisée du Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française [START_REF]Les éditions Champion n'ayant pas encore proposé de version électronique des éditions successives du Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française[END_REF], nous avons choisi de fournir une analyse diachronique d'un vocabulaire de spécialité : le vocabulaire grammatical [START_REF]Notons que nous avons fait paraître récemment (Rey 2007) une étude similaire, portant sur le vocabulaire grammatical présent dans le Dictionnaire françois[END_REF].

Notre travail s'oriente autour de deux axes principaux : 1) un examen de l'évolution lexicale relative à ce champ particulier, et 2) une incursion au coeur des différents dispositifs de marquage du domaine grammatical à travers les éditions successives du dictionnaire des académiciens [START_REF]En raison du caractère incomplet de la neuvième édition du DAF sous sa forme électronique, notre étude ne porte que sur les huit premières éditions de ce dernier[END_REF].

Constitution du corpus

L'utilisation de la version électronique proposée sur CD-ROM par les éditions REDON nous a permis en quelques simples "clics" de pouvoir constituer notre corpus de travail. La collecte de ce dernier s'est faite en consultant les huit éditions simultanément et en appliquant un filtre sur le "domaine" de rattachement des articles. Nous avons ainsi relevé les différentes entrées lexicales étiquetées comme relevant du domaine de la Grammaire et introduites par des séquences du type "Terme de Grammaire", "Terme de grammaire grecque", "Terme de Grammaire Latine", etc. La Figure 1 La première constatation que nous faisons concerne la croissance régulière des articles relevant de ce vocabulaire de spécialité. Nous passons en effet d'un métalangage composé de 63 articles dans l'édition de 1694 à un métalangage composé de 310 articles dans celle de 1932. La proportion des entrées lexicales relevant du domaine grammatical a donc quasiment été multipliée par cinq entre la première et la huitième édition.

Soulignons également que cette courbe d'évolution possède une particularité intéressante en ce qui concerne l'édition de 1932. Cette dernière marque en effet un accroissement bien supérieur à celui constaté entre toutes les autres éditions puisqu'elle compte 123 entrées de plus que l'édition de 1878, alors que jusqu'à présent les éditions ne se différenciaient tout au plus que par une trentaine de lexies de l'une à l'autre.

La figure 2 fournit le détail de l'apport terminologique grammatical de chacune des éditions après 1694 [START_REF]Ces chiffres ne tiennent pas compte des articles qui disparaissent d'une édition à l'autre[END_REF]: La première phase visible concerne les éditions de 1718, 1740, 1762 et 1798, pour lesquelles on peut constater un certain tassement des unités terminologiques introduites dans le vocabulaire grammatical. En effet, à la suite de l'édition publiée par l'abbé Régnier-Desmarais (1718) qui introduit 31 lexies de plus que celle de 1694, l'accroissement terminologique est constamment positif mais reste moindre. Même si l'édition de 1762 introduit 22 lexies, ces trois nouvelles versions du DAF marquent un ralentissement dans l'accroissement du vocabulaire grammatical. Ceci semblerait montrer que la "mutation très forte du métalangage" qu'évoque J-C Chevalier [START_REF] Chevalier | Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie française et la grammaire[END_REF] et qui a éclaté "au milieu du XVIIIe siècle dans les propositions de Girard (1747) et de Du Marsais dans l'Encyclopédie" (CHEVALIER 1998 : 304), ne s'est pas manifestée dans les éditions de 1762 et 1798 du DAF, tout au moins en ce qui concerne le vocabulaire grammatical.

ÉDITION

L'Académie affirme pourtant explicitement, dans sa préface de 1762, vouloir prendre en considération ces avancées :

"Les sciences et les arts ayant été plus cultivés et plus répandus depuis un siècle qu'ils ne l'étoient auparavant, il est ordinaire d'écrire en François sur ces matières. En conséquence plusieurs termes qui leur sont propres, et qui n'étoient autrefois connus que d'un petit nombre de personnes, ont passé dans la Langue commune. Auroit-il été raisonnable de refuser place dans notre Dictionnaire à des mots qui sont aujourd'hui d'un usage presque général ? Nous avons donc cru devoir admettre dans cette nouvelle Edition, les termes élémentaires des sciences, des arts, et même ceux des métiers, qu'un homme de lettres est dans le cas de trouver dans des ouvrages où l'on ne traite pas expressément des matières auxquelles ces termes appartiennent." (DAF 1762, PRÉFACE) Ce commentaire est une illustration du fait que "les mentalités et l'attitude varient" (BOUVEROT 1998 : 241), même chez les académiciens, mais il est dommage que cela se fasse encore "en fonction des spécialités" (BOUVEROT 1998 : 241) et que parmi ces spécialités ne figure pas la Grammaire.

Cette première phase contraste fortement avec le second mouvement qu'incarne l'édition de 1835. Cette édition traduit effectivement un renouveau terminologique du domaine grammatical, puisqu'elle n'introduit pas moins de cinquante-neuf nouveaux articles.

La troisième phase qu'illustre notre figure 3 est particulièrement intéressante puisqu'elle révèle une stagnation évidente de la maturation lexicale du champ grammatical. Avec l'édition de 1798 qui n'introduit que 10 articles nouveaux [START_REF]La pauvreté de l'édition de 1798 est étonnante dans la mesure où cette édition est généralement reconnue pour marquer une introduction massive des lexiques de spécialité[END_REF], l'édition de 1878, avec ses 13 articles introduits, est l'une des éditions les moins prolifiques.

La quatrième et dernière phase décrite par notre tableau concerne l'accroissement massif proposé par l'édition de 1932. Dans cette huitième édition du DAF, cent dix-neuf articles de grammaire nouveaux sont introduits. Cette introduction massive contraste évidemment avec l'indigence de l'édition de 1878 et peut coïncider avec un nouvel élan de la lexicographie.

Peut-être pouvons-nous en effet voir à travers cet accroissement spectaculaire un héritage, non encore systématisé dans l'édition de 1878, de la parution du Grand dictionnaire universel du XIX e siècle (1863-1876) de Pierre Larousse et du Dictionnaire de la langue française (1872) d'Émile Littré. L'une des preuves de ce que nous avançons est le nombre très important d'articles de Grammaire identifiés par Littré, chiffre qui se monte à cinq cent quatre-vingt trois articles.

La parution de l'ouvrage de Littré et de celui de Larousse a certainement poussé l'Académie à mettre à jour ses propres connaissances grammaticales.

Analyse des évolutions

Dans la seconde partie de ce premier chapitre nous souhaitons nous intéresser plus en détail aux évolutions constatées entre toutes les éditions. Nous allons pour cela étudier d'une part les articles unanimement recensés par toutes les éditions, avant de focaliser notre attention sur les articles propres à chacune des éditions.

Les articles unanimement recensés

Notre analyse diachronique permet de dégager un consensus de 44 articles recensés par toutes les éditions du DAF. Ces articles sont les suivants: absolu, acception, accusatif, actif, adjectif, adversatif, aigu, antécédent, appellatif, apposition, augmentatif, auxiliaire, collectif, conjonctif, conjuguer, construction, construire, déclinable, déclinaison, décliner, défectif, dériver, disjonctif, formation, fréquentatif, gérondif, infinitif, inflexion, interrogatif, inversion, nombre, nominatif, oraison, participe, pluriel, possessif, prétérit, pronom, prosodie, quantité, régir, subjonctif, substantif, superlatif. Le nombre de ces articles, qui constituent en quelque sorte le socle grammatical des huit premières éditions du DAF, revêt une importance qui varie en fonction des différentes éditions. A la vue de ce tableau, il est clair que les 44 articles recensés par les huit premières éditions du DAF représentent, en relation avec l'accroissement progressif du vocabulaire grammatical souligné plus haut, un socle qui perd progressivement de son importance. Ne représentant plus que 13% de la totalité des articles grammaticaux de l'édition de 1932, la maigreur de ce socle illustre l'ampleur du renouvellement terminologique opéré au fil des siècles, et dont le point culminant figure dans les introductions massives de la huitième édition.

Termes propres à une édition

Intéressons-nous à présent aux articles identifiés comme propres à une édition particulière. La figure 5 Le tableau proposé fait apparaître un contraste frappant entre les sept premières éditions et l'édition de 1932.

En effet, alors que la huitième édition comporte 120 articles qui lui sont propres, les autres en comportent tout au plus 2. Dans le détail, nous constatons que les éditions de 1740, 1798 et 1878 introduisent deux articles qui ne seront pas repris ensuite, alors que les éditions de 1694, 1762 et 1835 n'en introduisent qu'un seul. L'édition de 1718 présente elle la particularité de n'introduire aucun article qui lui soit propre.

Ces constatations ont le mérite de mettre en lumière une grande rigueur dans le travail d'introduction terminologique, ou tout au moins dans celui d'introduction des articles relatifs au domaine de la Grammaire.

Effectivement, si nous exceptons les articles introduits dans la huitième édition que nous n'avons pu analyser en fonction de la neuvième édition et qui ne sont donc pas significatifs, la proportion infime des articles propres à une édition particulière du DAF, autrement dit introduits dans une édition puis non repris par les éditions suivantes, témoigne d'une solide réflexion précédant la consécration lexicale des concepts grammaticaux manipulés. Cette prudence représente l'un des avantages majeurs du laborieux travail de définition des académiciens, souvent critiqué pour sa lenteur.

Ces mêmes constatations ont par ailleurs l'intérêt d'attirer notre attention sur certains articles propres à des éditions en particulier : les articles DICHORÉE et DIGAMMA notamment. Ces deux articles, respectivement marqués comme "Terme de Grammaire ancienne" et "Terme de Grammaire grecque" n'appartiennent donc pas à la grammaire française. Nous verrons dans la seconde partie de notre travail qu'ils ne sont pas les seuls mots issus de grammaires anciennes et pourtant répertoriés par le DAF, mais nous devons néanmoins nous attarder sur les raisons de leur présence.

Alors que DIGAMMA va disparaître dans les éditions suivantes, DICHORÉE sera repris dans les éditions de 1835 et 1878 en tant que "Terme de versification grecque et de versification latine", subissant ainsi un changement de marque de domaine. Aucun dictionnaire avant le DAF ne mentionne le mot DICHORÉE comme un terme de Grammaire. Ce mot, ainsi que le mot DIGAMMA d'ailleurs, existe pourtant bien dans l'Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert mais n'est pas répertorié comme un terme de Grammaire. La justification de la présence de ces deux mots grammaticaux s'explique en fait -et nous revenons là sur ce que nous venons de dire -par leur emprunt au dictionnaire Grammaire & Littérature (1782-1786) de Nicolas Beauzée et Jean-François Marmontel, issu de l'Encyclopédie Méthodique (1782-1832) de Charles-Joseph Panckoucke.

Dans ce dictionnaire, ces deux mots sont en effet répertoriés et appartiennent à la Grammaire. Ainsi que nous l'avons montré pour la terminologie relative à la description phonique de la langue [START_REF] Cf | [END_REF], l'Encyclopédie Méthodique, à travers les théories de Beauzée a eu une incidence évidente, et notamment lexicale, sur les théories grammaticales de l'époque.

Afin d'achever cette première partie de notre travail nous souhaitons contraster l'existence de ces articles propres à une seule édition avec un certain nombre d'articles qui ont été adoptés au moins dans deux éditions avant d'être abandonnés par les éditions suivantes [START_REF]En tant que termes appartenant au domaine de la Grammaire[END_REF] On peut se demander pourquoi ces articles ont été finalement abandonnés; nous n'analyserons pas ici les raisons de leur disparition, mais nous tenions toutefois à évoquer leur existence afin de fournir une illustration de la stratification du socle grammatical évoqué plus haut.

Etude des marques de domaine grammatical

Dans cette seconde partie de notre étude nous nous intéressons aux marques du domaine grammatical utilisées dans les différentes éditions du DAF.

Soulignons au préalable que le filtrage par domaine que propose l'édition électronique du DAF offre une déperdition d'information non-négligeable importante à mentionner.

En effet, la sélection des articles en fonction de l'étiquette "Terme de Grammaire" nous renvoie pêle-mêle les articles possédant les marqueurs introductifs "Terme de Grammaire" (1694: AORISTE, AUGMENTATIF) mais aussi ceux possédant les marqueurs "En termes de Grammaire" (1694: AIGU, ANOMAL, AUXILIAIRE), "On dit en termes de Grammaire" (1694: CONGRU), et "On appelle en termes de Grammaire" (1718: RELATIF). Cette différence de marquage comporte un intérêt réel et a déjà fait l'objet de nombreux travaux [START_REF]Cf. notamment GLATIGNY[END_REF]. De plus, ainsi que nous l'avons mentionné plus haut en note, ce filtrage automatique montre les limites de l'étiquetage appliqué puisque dans le type de requête que nous avons fait, certains articles comme DOUTEUX (DAF 1835 et 1878) ou SUPPLÉMENT (DAF 1798) ne recevant que la mention "en Grammaire", ne sont pas identifiés comme appartenant au domaine grammatical.

Dans cette communication, lorsque nous évoquons les articles marqués en "Terme de Grammaire", nous faisons allusion prioritairement à ceux possédant cette expression dans leur marque de domaine.

Inventaire des marques de domaine grammatical

Le tableau ci-dessous dresse l'inventaire des différentes marques du domaine grammatical utilisées pour les articles relevant de la Grammaire dans les huit premières éditions du DAF :

1694

Nature des évolutions

Le tableau obtenu fait apparaître plusieurs types d'évolutions relatives au marquage des articles appartenant au domaine de la Grammaire. Nous nous proposons de détailler ces évolutions.

Evolution constante des articles marqués en "terme de Grammaire".

L'une des premières conclusions qui se dégagent de cette étude concerne la présence majoritaire du marquage au moyen de la forme "Terme de Grammaire". Cette séquence représente en effet 98% des marquages dans les éditions de 1694, 1718, 1740 et 1798, 96% dans l'édition de 1762, 94% dans les éditions de 1835 et 1878 et enfin 95% dans l'édition de 1932. Il s'agit là d'une domination sans partage avec les autres formes utilisées, et il est intéressant de constater que cette domination concerne chacune des éditions. Ceci tend à prouver que l'utilisation massive de cette forme coïncide avec l'accroissement du nombre d'articles de Grammaire à travers les éditions, traduisant ainsi un phénomène de cristallisation des connaissances grammaticales autour d'un patrimoine scientifique essentiellement français [START_REF]Nous admettons ici provisoirement que la simple mention "Terme de Grammaire" est un renvoi à la Grammaire française[END_REF]. Ce phénomène contraste à première vue avec le phénomène de retour des grammaires anciennes que nous l'évoquerons plus bas, mais cette apparition simultanée d'étiquettes anciennes et modernes s'explique probablement par la conscience accrue des spécificités des langues qui marquent le XIXe siècle, loin de l'universalisme spontané des grammairiens du XVIIIe siècle.

Ce phénomène s'apparente d'ailleurs étrangement au phénomène de "retour des grammaires anciennes" que nous évoquerons plus bas.

Les nouvelles catégories

Face à l'écrasante majorité des articles marqués en "Terme de Grammaire", figure un nombre très restreint de formes que nous avons choisi de regrouper sous la dénomination "catégories nouvelles" en raison de leur aspect plus marginal. Ces formes sont "Terme de Logique et de Grammaire" (1878 et 1932), "Terme de Grammaire et de Musique" (1835 et 1878), "Terme de Grammaire française" (1762) et "T. de Grammaire et d'Administration" (1932).

Ces formes méritent une attention particulière puisqu'elles systématisent toutes un travail original sur la catégorisation des articles grammaticaux.

Si nous considérons dans un premier temps ces formes dans leur ensemble, il semblerait, excepté la forme "Terme de Grammaire française", qu'elles illustrent la particularité lexicographique intéressante qui consiste à conserver au sein d'une même entrée, et d'une même définition d'ailleurs, des acceptions relatives à des domaines différents. Si nous tenons compte du fait que ces articles appartiennent tous aux éditions du XIX e ou du XX e siècle (voire aux deux), cette particularité contraste singulièrement avec la cristallisation évoquée plus haut et qui se traduit par un ancrage plus fort et individualisé de la Grammaire française dans le dictionnaire.

Si nous regardons à présent ces formes les unes après les autres, divers constats peuvent être dressés.

Tout d'abord, en ce qui concerne la forme "Terme de Grammaire française" qui caractérise le mot ALEXANDRIN dans l'édition de 1762, il semblerait que les académiciens, conformément à la définition qu'ils en donnent, aient voulu faire de ce mot un terme propre à notre Grammaire. Ceci est particulièrement ironique puisqu'il s'agit justement de la dernière édition où ce mot est considéré comme appartenant au domaine de la Grammaire.

La forme "Terme de Logique et de Grammaire" qui caractérise le mot PRÉDICAT est elle aussi intéressante puisqu'elle marque la prise en considération lexicale d'un terme déjà bien ancré dans les théories antérieures (Cf. PORT-ROYAL) et son adéquation aussi bien aux théories grammaticales qu'aux théories de la Logique.

Au-delà du fait de marquer l'appartenance du mot SYNCOPÉ à des domaines divers, la forme "Terme de Grammaire et de Musique" présente l'intérêt d'illustrer une nouvelle fois les imperfections et les carences de l'étiquetage des domaines proposé par la version électronique du DAF.

Notre tableau montre que la marque de domaine étudiée concerne les éditions de 1835 et 1878, toutefois, l'édition de 1798 semble avoir été lésée puisqu'elle marque également la double appartenance du mot aux domaines de la Musique et de la Grammaire, mais dégroupe l'acception grammaticale au sein d'une sousentrée.

Cette absence de marquage d'un point de vue informatique semble s'expliquer par le fait que l'appartenance du mot à la Grammaire est introduite par la forme "On dit en Grammaire". Comme nous l'avons dit plus haut, ce type de forme semble ne pas avoir été pris en compte lors de l'étiquetage des marques du domaine grammatical, et démontre encore l'imperfection de cette édition informatisée du DAF.

Pour finir, il nous semble que la forme "T. de Grammaire et d'Administration" qui qualifie le mot ONOMASTIQUE, en faisant référence au domaine de l'Administration uniquement mentionné à partir de l'édition de 1835, marque l'association d'un domaine ancien et en constante évolution (la Grammaire) avec un domaine moderne. La Grammaire, à travers son lexique et les interactions qu'elle occasionne avec des domaines plus récents, mûrit progressivement dans le DAF.

Le retour des grammaires anciennes

Un survol rapide des différentes marques de domaine grammatical utilisées par le DAF suffit à illustrer ce que nous avons choisi de nommer le "retour des grammaires anciennes", à savoir un recours significatif à des termes issus des grammaires grecques, hébraïque ou latine.

Ce "retour" peut selon nous être justifié par deux mécanismes distincts que notre tableau met en évidence.

Le premier phénomène notoire qui nous permet de nous prononcer en faveur d'un rôle croissant des grammaires anciennes dans la Grammaire française est d'ordre chronologique.

Nous notons en effet que la publication des éditions successives du DAF coïncide avec une cristallisation du recours à ce type de Grammaire. La forme "Terme de Grammaire Latine", présente dès l'édition de 1694 et dans toutes les éditions suivantes, montre que la seule influence avouée par les académiciens est celle du Latin.

A la suite de cette première référence ancienne, il faut attendre l'édition de 1762 pour constater un nouveau recours aux grammaires anciennes, et en l'occurrence une référence, à travers le mot SYNÉRÈSE, à la fois à la grammaire latine et à la grammaire grecque ("Terme de Grammaire grecque ou latine").

Malgré la disparition de la référence que nous venons d'évoquer dans l'édition de 1762, l'édition de 1798 introduit elle aussi une mention aux grammaires anciennes, en utilisant d'ailleurs une terminologie plutôt générique à travers l'expression "Terme de Grammaire ancienne".

Les éditions de 1835 et 1878 formulent quant à elles une référence à la grammaire grecque. Il s'agit là d'un tournant significatif dans le marquage des articles de Grammaire dans la mesure où le recours à la grammaire grecque concerne huit articles. Cette proportion est importante si nous tenons compte du fait que les mentions précédentes ne concernaient qu'un nombre bien plus restreint d'articles.

L'édition de 1932 est pour sa part encore plus significative car en plus de mentionner la grammaire grecque pour dix articles, elle fait une mention à la grammaire hébraïque. En faisant cohabiter des articles des grammaires latine, grecque et hébraïque, cette édition se distingue comme la plus tournée vers les grammaires anciennes. Ceci se vérifie également pour le second phénomène que nous comptons mettre en avant pour illustrer le "retour" des grammaires anciennes, à savoir le critère quantitatif.

Notre tableau montre qu'en plus d'introduire au fur et à mesure de ses éditions plus de termes des grammaires anciennes, le DAF va avoir un recours quantitatif croissant à ces grammaires. L'emprunt systématique de termes appartenant à la grammaire latine illustre effectivement ce phénomène puisque l'on passe de la mention d'un seul article dans l'édition de 1694 à celle de quatre articles dans l'édition de 1932.

Nous avons déjà mentionné les dix articles de cette huitième édition marqués comme appartenant à la grammaire grecque, mais insistons sur le fait que les éditions de 1835 et 1878 en mentionnent également huit chacune alors qu'aucune édition précédente -exceptée la mention à un terme de grammaire grecque ou latine dans l'édition de 1762 -ne cite cette grammaire.

En associant les quatre termes de grammaire latine, les dix termes de grammaire grecque et le terme de grammaire hébraïque de l'édition de 1932 on parvient à une édition qui compte dans son vocabulaire grammatical 15 articles constituant des termes de grammaires anciennes alors que l'édition de 1694 n'en compte qu'un.

Cette différence traduit bien évidemment une évolution des idées vis-à-vis des grammaires anciennes, entre une époque où le français venait de se doter d'un organisme scientifique d'État visant à faire du français une langue de prestige n'ayant plus à souffrir du joug du latin, et une époque où le comparatisme règne et où le prestige de la langue de Molière n'est plus à démontrer.

Quelques réflexions autour de la microstructure

Les réflexions livrées dans cette communication n'ont jusqu'ici porté que sur les aspects macrostructurels et non microstructurels du corpus étudié. Aussi, sans pour autant empiéter sur nos travaux en cours [START_REF]Nous effectuons actuellement une analyse fine des évolutions microstructurelles des articles de Grammaire du DAF, mais nos conclusions sont à ce jour encore trop parcellaires pour être exposées[END_REF], nous souhaitons exposer à présent certaines différences microstructurelles repérées à travers notre corpus. Pour mener à bien cette étude, notre analyse s'appuie essentiellement sur les 44 articles du corpus unanimement recensés par les huit premières éditions du DAF.

Une maturation progressive des connaissances

Ainsi que l'illustre l'accroissement progressif du nombre des articles explicitement rattachés au domaine de la Grammaire, le parcours diachronique auquel nous nous livrons offre un regard sur une maturation progressive de la science grammaticale. Depuis le siècle classique, ce type de connaissances ne cesse en effet d'être réexaminé et approfondi grâce à différentes avancées théoriques. La microstructure des entrées de notre corpus se fait clairement l'écho de ces évolutions.

Des définitions plus techniques

L'examen microstructurel des articles de notre corpus met en évidence un premier foyer d'évolutions significatives : la zone de définition. Au sein de la structure dictionnairique de notre souscorpus, la définition fait en effet partie des éléments qui mettent le mieux en évidence l'évolution du discours grammatical à travers les huit premières éditions du DAF.

La définition peut par exemple être le lieu où se trouvent redistribuées les connaissances au sein du dictionnaire. Ainsi, pour l'article AIGU, alors que les sept premières éditions proposent en fait une définition de l'accent aigu : "En termes de Grammaire, On dit. Un accent aigu. C'est une petite marque qui se met sur une sillabe, pour montrer qu'elle doit estre prononcée d'un ton élevé." (DAF 1694(DAF , 1718(DAF , 1740(DAF , 1762(DAF , 1798(DAF , 1835(DAF , 1878) ) la huitième édition ne définit plus ce type d'accent et formule un renvoi vers une entrée plus adaptée à sa description : l'entrée ACCENT.

"En termes de Grammaire, Accent aigu. Voyez Accent." (DAF 1932)

Conclusion

Cette petite excursion permise par l'outil informatique au coeur du métalangage grammatical des huit premières éditions du Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, est particulièrement riche d'enseignements.

Nous avons en effet pu voir s'affirmer progressivement une maturation et une structuration lexicale d'une discipline au fil des éditions, comme en témoignent à la fois le nombre croissant des entrées recensées, leurs évolutions microstructurelles et leur marquage systématique en tant que termes relevant du domaine grammatical français.

Le socle grammatical commun que nous avons pu mettre en évidence, ainsi que le nombre restreint des articles n'ayant qu'une durée de vie relative à une ou quelques éditions, illustrent par ailleurs la qualité du travail des académiciens dans la constitution de leur lexique grammatical. C'est certainement cette rigueur qui a fait de ce dictionnaire l'une des autorités lexicographiques les plus respectées sous laquelle se sont placés des ouvrages de grande notoriété comme ceux de Larousse, Robert, Bescherelle ou encore Littré.

Malgré les nombreuses critiques qui l'ont entouré et l'entourent encore, le DAF apparaît comme un ouvrage rigoureusement structuré et dont l'intérêt pour la thématisation du vocabulaire grammatical est bien réel.

Notes

Figure 1 .

 1 Figure 1. Répartition des articles grammaticaux dans les huit premières éditions du DAF.

Figure 2 .Figure 3 .

 23 Figure 2. Proportion d'articles nouveaux introduits dans les éditions du DAF après 1694

Figure 5 .

 5 Figure 5. Les articles propres à chaque édition.

Figure 6 .

 6 Figure 6. Les articles ayant disparu.

  Afin d'illustrer ces disparités proportionnelles, nous avons reproduit ci-dessous un tableau indiquant la part occupée par ce socle dans chaque édition :

	ÉDITION	1694	1718	1740	1762	1798	1835	1878	1932
	PROPORTION	70%	46%	39%	33%	31%	25%	24%	14%
	Figure 4. Proportion des articles du socle grammatical dans les huit premières éditions du DAF

  ci-dessous synthétise cette étude :

	ÉDITION	ARTICLES
	1694	Terme
		Dichorée, Douteux [6]
	1835	Conclusif
	1878	Digamma, Permutable
		gouverner,
		homophone, homophonie, hybride, ictus, idiotisme,
		imparisyllabe, incident, indirect, instrumental,
		interrogation, intransitivement, invariable, juxtaposer,
		labial, liaison, locution, logique, masculin, métathèse,
		mouillure, moyen, négation, noble, objet,
		onomastique, ordinal, oxyton, palatal, parisyllabe,
		paronomase, paroxyton, particule, passé, péjoratif,
		périodique, plus-que-parfait, principal, proparoxyton,
		propérispomène, proposition, propre, provignement,
		radical, séparable, simple, souscrire, subordination,
		subordonner, suspensif, suspension, syncope,
		synthétique, thématique, thème, tmèse, trisyllabe,
		trisyllabique, variable.

1932 absolument, abstrait, accorder, activement, affixe, allitération, ampliatif, analyse, antérieur, aphérèse, apocope, apostrophe, appui, articulation, articuler, aspiration, atone, atticisme, attraction, attribut, attributif, attribution, bilabiale, bref, caractéristique, casuel, causal, chuintement, chuinter, circonflexe, circonstance, circonstanciel, commun, comparaison, complément, composé, concession, concordance, conditionnel, consécutif, conséquence, contracter, contraction, coordination, coordonner, degré, démonstratif, dénominatif, dépendance, déterminer, diacritique, diminutif, , direct, discours, dissylabique, doux, explosif, figer, fini, forme, genre,

  . Ils sont répertoriés dans le tableau cidessous :

						incise	incise
		incongru	incongru	incongru	incongru
						indéclinabilité	indéclinabilité
						interrogant	interrogant
	manger	manger	manger	manger	manger
						métaplasme	métaplasme
			moeuf	moeuf	moeuf	moeuf	moeuf
	monosyllabe monosyllabe monosyllabe monosyllabe	monosyllabe	monosyllabe	monosyllabe
				nasal	nasal
						nasalement	nasalement
						nasalité	nasalité
				négatif	négatif	négatif	négatif
						paulò-post-futur	paulò-post-futur
		scander	scander	scander	scander
		spondaique	spondaique
					Supplément	supplément	supplément
				synalèphe	synalèphe	synalèphe	synalèphe
						synchyse	synchyse
		voyelle	voyelle	voyelle	voyelle	voyelle	voyelle
	1694	1718	1740	1762	1798	1835	1878
					adverbialité	adverbialité	adverbialité
		alexandrin	alexandrin	alexandrin
	anomal	anomal	anomal	anomal	anomal
	anomalie	anomalie	anomalie	anomalie	anomalie
	aoriste	aoriste	aoriste	aoriste
						attiquement	attiquement
	congru	congru	congru	congru	congru
						figuratif	figuratif
	hétéroclite	hétéroclite	hétéroclite	hétéroclite	hétéroclite	hétéroclite	hétéroclite
				hypallage	hypallage	hypallage	hypallage
						imparisyllabique	imparisyllabique

1718 1740 1762 1798 1835 1878 1932

	Terme
	de	62 94 112 127 141 163 175 293
	Gramm
	aire
	Terme de Grammaire française				1
	Terme de Grammaire latine	1	2	2	3	2	1	2	4
	Terme de Grammaire grecque ou latine				1
	Terme de Grammaire ancienne					1
	Terme de Grammaire et de musique						1	1
	Terme de grammaire grecque						8	8	10

Terme de logique et de grammaire 1 1 Terme de grammaire et d'administration 1 Terme de grammaire hébraïque 1 TOTAL : 63 96 114 132 144 173 187 310

  Figure 7. Les différentes marques du domaine grammatical recensées dans le DAF


Shavkat Rakhmatullaev
email: rakhmatullaev@rambler.ru

Frédéric Huneau
email: frederic.huneau@u-bordeaux1.fr

Philippe Le Coustumer

Mikael Motelica-Heino

Sustainable Irrigated Agricultural Production of Countries in economic Transition: Challenges and Opportunities (A case study of Uzbekistan, Central Asia)

Keywords: irrigated agriculture, water users associations, agricultural water management, soil and water pollution, cotton production, Central Asia

For the fulfillment of the thirsty ambition of self-sufficiency of the Soviets for cotton production, the arid Central Asian region and in particular Uzbekistan has been extensively exploited. In fact, vast tracts of deserts have been converted into irrigated agricultural lands without proper consideration to environment and technical standards. As a result trends in natural resource degradation (soil salinity, desertification, water quality) as well as declining crop yields have dramatically increased.

The agricultural sector is the backbone for employment, food security and export revenues of the Central Asian countries. Since the independence of the Central Asian countries (after the breakup of the former Soviet Union) the situation has changed dramatically in terms of institutional, political and technical systems. Political transition, which is defined as a shift from once planned centralized economy to a market-driven one, has introduced 'new' concepts like land tenure, water rights and different kinds of ownership. All of such transformations have impacted the agricultural production in Central Asia.

The institutional change can be described as decentralization of the farming systems i.e., transition from the former state collective farms into the smaller forms of private farms. The institutional interventions are aimed to increase agricultural production through improving water management. It is arguable that private production systems are the most effective business driven forces but the situation is quite different in Central Asia due to the irrigated agriculture.

The biggest challenge for a sustainable irrigated agricultural production lies in the recent reforms of water management sector in Central Asia and Uzbekistan. The water users associations have been established for replacing the former collective farming systems for irrigation water distribution and maintenance of irrigation infrastructures at on-farm level. The intention of the national government was to shift the operation, maintenance and management of irrigation infrastructures to non government institutions (decentralization). However, these institutions have not fulfilled their promising tasks because of i) a rapid increase of number of private farms along canals; ii) the cropping structure is mosaic with different crop water requirements against the former monoculture; iii) a poor financial, trained and technical capacities of new established institutions; iv) a state ordered agricultural production quota system (for cotton and wheat).

This paper analyzes the historical aspects of transformation in the farming production institutions in Central Asia with special focus on Uzbekistan and comprehensively overviews the main current challenges facing the farming system and potential opportunities for reversing the situation.

INTRODUCTION

After the fundamental and extremely fast political transformation of the Central Asian (CA) region (collapse of the Former Soviet Union and emergence of National States), the land-locked arid countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) have directed their natural resources utilization for the economic development from a previously centralplanned economic system to market-oriented one. Once interconnected branches of economies in Central Asia have become fragmented and collapsed (UNEP, 2005). Many thousands of jobs have been abolished. Business and industry sectors with rich oil and gas reserves have shown their flexibility under a new transformation process but the most impacted was agriculture.

In this hard period, agriculture has played a vital role for absorbing employment of rural populations. [START_REF] Kandiyoti | Rural Domestic Economy and Female Labour Supply in Uzbekistan: Assessing the Feasibility of Gender Targeted Micro Credit Schemes[END_REF] describes the agricultural sector as being a "shock absorber" for surplus of rural labor. In fact in the CA region the agriculture employs about 45% of the total population and its share in GDP (Gross National Product) is 24% on average (FAO, 2009). Some 22 million people depend directly or indirectly on irrigated agriculture in these countries (World Bank, 2003). Besides, the export of cotton contributes to significant foreign cash revenues for Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Sustainability of irrigated agriculture is one of the main platforms for food security, employment, livelihoods and environment protection.

With the independence of CA countries the situation has changed dramatically in terms of institutional, political and technical systems (IAMO, 2008). Political transition from once a planned centralized economy to a market-driven one has introduced 'new' concepts like land tenure, water rights and different kinds of ownership. Institutional reforms have been implemented for arrangements of previously state owned collective farms into new private form of farming system. Ideally the de-centralization of farming systems should have created new opportunities for rural people. Indeed the fast privatization of agricultural lands has created thousands of workplaces with complete privatization of agricultural parcels in Kyrgyzstan and long-term leases in rest of other Central Asian states [START_REF] Sehring | The pitfalls of irrigation water pricing in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan[END_REF].

The reform of agriculture was inevitable in the process of political and economic transformation. The private forms of farming system would be better off and contribute for agricultural production and as result tax returns for governments. The climatic conditions and limited water resources of the region impose to practice irrigated agriculture only which makes irrigation water supply and management the major factors limiting crop yields in the region [START_REF] Ibragimov | Water use efficiency of irrigated cotton in Uzbekistan under drip and furrow irrigation[END_REF]. About 7.9 million ha of the total irrigated lands in Central Asia of which about half (4.2 million ha) is irrigated in Uzbekistan (World Bank, 2005). Over a period of 90 years the areas under irrigation have increased by 3 times on average in the CA region, e.g., from 4.51 million ha in 1960 to 6.92 million ha in 1980 and to 7.85 million ha in 2000 (UNEP, 2005;[START_REF] Sattarov | Problems of estimation and rational use of water resources of Aral Sea basin[END_REF]. This increase was due to a gigantic Soviet hydraulic program through the construction of dams, irrigation canals, pumping stations and various hydraulic facilities. This hydraulic infrastructure is considered as one of the most complex in the world [START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF][START_REF] Ximing | Sustainability analysis for irrigation water management in the Aral Sea region[END_REF]UNDP, 2007).

Additionally there has been a general warming up in the CA countries on the order of 1-2 0 C since the beginning of the 20th century that might have a strong potential impact on the regional temperatures and precipitation regime but also on natural ecosystems and agricultural crops [START_REF] Lioubimtseva | Impacts of climate and land-cover changes in arid lands of Central Asia[END_REF].

From a technical point of view the major bulk of hydraulic infrastructure (irrigation and drainage) are in poor conditions and government financial programs for the maintenance have been substantially reduced (UNESCO, 2000;[START_REF] Sokolov | Experiences in IWRM in the Central Asia and Caucasus Region[END_REF]UNDP, 2007).

The aim of this paper is to comprehensively review the two sets of problems that most impact the sustainability of irrigated agricultural production systems in Central Asia with special focus on Uzbekistan. The first set of problems is reforms in agricultural production systems (de-collectivization), i.e. transformation of former collective farming into current private farming systems. The second set of problems is the on-farm irrigation water distribution and infrastructure management by recently created local institutions such as the Water Users Associations (WUA).

Along with de-centralization in agriculture, water management system was also transformed in Uzbekistan at two levels (Abdullaev et al., 2008). In this paper we will deal with only irrigation water management on-farm level. The irrigation water management was transformed from once a territorial-based management to a hydrographic principle at the basin level. The second level is creation of WUA at on-farm level. A WUA is a self-managing group of farmers working together to operate and maintain their irrigation and drainage network (only inter-farm or on-farm level) to ensure fair and equitable water distribution and increase crop yields [START_REF] Abdullaev | Participatory water management at the main canal: A case from South Ferghana canal in Uzbekistan[END_REF][START_REF] Kazbekov | Evaluating planning and delivery performance of Water User Associations (WUAs) in Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan[END_REF].

At the watershed level main irrigation water distribution management and hydraulic infrastructure was left for the government for operation and maintenance. At on-farm level (secondary and tertiary) irrigation canals were shifted to WUAs. However, these institutions have not fulfilled their promising tasks because of i) a rapid increase of the number of private farms instead of a few former collective ones along a single irrigation canal; ii) along a irrigation canal the cropping structure is a mosaic with different crop water requirements, irrigation regimes in comparison to the former monocultural cropping structure; iii) a poor financial, capacity building and technical capabilities of the new established institutions; iv) a state ordered agricultural production quota system (for cotton and wheat).

Last but not least there are environmental concerns such as land degradation (elevated land salinity and waterlogging) of irrigated lands. Poor incentives of farmers to preserve the irrigation water, physical deterioration of the irrigation and drainage networks exacerbate the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. As a result the crop yields have declined by 50 percent (UNESCO, 2000). The continued soil degradation would jeopardize the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and impact the livelihoods of million people.

UZBEKISTAN

Uzbekistan is located in the heart of Central Asia with a population over 27 million and borders with Kazakhstan in the north, Kyrgyzstan in the north-east, Tajikistan in the east, Afghanistan in the south and Turkmenistan in the south west (Figure1). Administratively, Uzbekistan is divided into 12 provinces (viloyat) and one autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. The deserts (Kara Kum and Kyzyl Kum) and plains (Turan and Ustyurt) stretch from south-east to north-west and constitute roughly 80% of the landscape, the mountain systems of western Tian Shan and Pamir Alay occupying the rest of its territory [START_REF] Shultz | Central Asian rivers[END_REF]Irrigation of Uzbekistan, 1979).

The average monthly air temperature for January ranges from +3 0 C in the south (Termez) to -8 0 C in the north (Usyurt plateau) and in the summer temperatures can reach 45-49 0 C. The average annual precipitation in the desert zone is less than 200 mm while in the piedmont and highland zones it can be of 400-800 mm with maximum of 2000 mm in the mountain areas (Goskompriroda of Uzbekistan, 2005;UNDP, 2007). The annual average evaporation is about 1600-2200 mm. Thus agricultural production is impossible without irrigation.

Water resources

With an annual rainfall of 100-300 mm and a mean evaporation of 1600-2200 mm, Uzbekistan has a continental climate of the dry mid-latitude desert, characterized by hot summers and cold winters [START_REF] Shultz | Central Asian rivers[END_REF]FAO, 2009). Its climate is largely arid and its water resources are unevenly distributed both in space and time. There is a strong dependency on winter and spring rains and snowmelt from the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains. In fact these mountains are major contributors to the watersheds of the CA countries (World Bank, 2005;[START_REF] Hagg | Continuity and change: Land and water use reforms in rural Uzbekistan: Socio-economic and legal analyses for the region Khorezm[END_REF].

The streamflow is characterized by an extreme intra-annual variability and also unevenly spatially distributed [START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Groundwater resources and management in Amu Darya river basin (Central Asia)[END_REF]. Two main river basins are found in Uzbekistan -the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya [START_REF] Dukhovny | Water and globalization: Case study of Central Asia[END_REF]. The transboundary rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya satisfy 82% of the total water demand for irrigation, whereas only 18% of the same demand is satisfied by the internal Kashka Darya, Zerafshan and Surkhan Darya rivers in Uzbekistan (Figure 1) [START_REF] Shultz | Central Asian rivers[END_REF][START_REF] Nezlin | Interannual variations of the discharge of Amu Darya and Syr Darya estimated from global atmospheric precipitation[END_REF]. Uzbekistan heavily depends on transboundary sources of water and on average only 9.52km 3 of water resources are generated within the country whereas 94.8km 3 comes from outside (Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, 2006;[START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Groundwater resources and management in Amu Darya river basin (Central Asia)[END_REF].

Soils

The soils of Uzbekistan vary according to the latitude and altitude zones which in turn are associated with climatic conditions and vegetation cover (Figure2 and Table1). Due to climatic conditions and aridity about 14.6 million ha (32% of all soil types) are represented by desert type of soils (grey-brownish desert, sandy and takyr with its subtypes). These soils cannot be used for irrigation because of their inherited characteristics, available water resources for irrigation, salinization and harsh relief; they are instead mainly used for cattle breeding of camels and sheep [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF].

Saline soils (solonchak and subtypes) are distributed in Karakalpakstan and near the Aral Sea area, and occupy about 1.3 million of ha (3%) and prevail in the local depressions located in lowland plains, lake basins and between mountains (UNDP, 2007). With appropriate irrigation and drainage systems can be used for agriculture. Sands cover more than 12 million of ha (about 28% of the total surface) in Uzbekistan and are unsuitable for agriculture. About a total 63% of soils (out of total of 44.89 million of ha) in Uzbekistan cannot be used for irrigation due to their inherited soil characteristics, available irrigation and drainage facilities.

The hydromorphic soils (meadow, meadow-takyr and its subtypes) are distributed over 3.8 million ha (9% of the total surface) in all regions of Uzbekistan but can be found particularly in the middle and lower river reaches of Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Zerafshan, Kashka Darya, Surkhan Darya, and in Aral Sea wetlands. These soils have a high humus content 2.5-10% with high absorption capacity and used widely for rice cultivation (Goskompriroda of Uzbekistan, 2005).

The soils of the serozem belt (light, typical and dark) are distributed over 6.7 million ha (15%) on lower margin of the piedmont plains with an altitude of 200 to 700-900 m above sea level. These soil types have a high humus content (2-4%) and are less subject to salinization and can be used for rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. With the application of agronomic measures (e.g. fertilizers and conservation tillage) these soils can be used more productively for agriculture (Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, 2006).

About 2% of the land surface in Uzbekistan is occupied with water bodies (reservoirs, lakes, rivers) and 6% by rocks. About 5% of the lands (2.2 million ha) are represented by chestnut, brown and light brown soil types in mountains in altitude from 1200 to 1600 m above sea level and subjected to erosion. The main usages of these soils are plantation of trees and pastures (UNEP, 2005).

Irrigated agriculture and cotton production

The total cultivated land in Uzbekistan is estimated to be 5.2 million of ha, of which 4.2 million ha is irrigated (UNESCO, 2000). Figure3 depicts the evolution of the irrigated lands in Uzbekistan for the last century. The irrigated lands almost increased by 3 fold over the last century; about 1.3 million ha in 1900, 2.6 million ha in 1950 and 4.2 million in 2000 (UNEP, 2005). However, Uzbekistan has witnessed a population boom; in fact there was an increase of 4 fold of the total population i.e., from 6.5 million in 1940 to over 26 million in 2007. As a result, the irrigated lands per capita has reduced from 0.41 ha/person in 1940 to only 0.16 ha/person in 2008 (UNDP, 2009) (Table2).

This expansion is supported by the complex irrigation hydraulic infrastructure consisting of more than 14,000 different scale pumping stations, over 28,300 km of inter-farm ditches and main irrigation canals and more than 137,000 km of on-farm irrigation ditches, 42 water diversion structures (with a capacity of 10-300 m 3 /sec), 55 water reservoirs and about 30,000 km of drainage systems (Royal Haskoning, 2001) (Table3).

In order to increase the area under agricultural production, large scale hydraulic projects were started in soviet Uzbekistan. For example, in 1939 during 17 days, an irrigation canal named Lyagan with a total length of 32 km was manually dug with daily participation of more than 13 000 -14 000 persons [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF]. The Big Ferghana irrigation canal which stretches over 270 km was dug in less than 45 days with the assistance of 160 000 persons [START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Historical irrigation development in Uzbekistan from ancient to present: Past lessons and future perspectives for sustainable development[END_REF].

In later periods, there have been gigantic projects to construct irrigation canals, water reservoirs, pumping stations and other hydraulic structures with strong support from Moscow by enormous financial and technical resources.

However, environmental concerns were ignored by the centralized Moscow administration and today several known ecological catastrophes such as the Aral Sea catastrophe are witnessed. The detailed discussion on the historical evolution of irrigation in Central Asia can be found in [START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF]. [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF] reports that the Soviet Union imported about 80% of its cotton products in 1920s and in order to be self-sufficient for its textile industry by internal cotton production, the Central Asian region was used as a cotton producing platform. The area sown under the cotton has increased by 7.5 fold from 1924 to 1990. Figure4 depicts the evolution of area sown under cotton and its yield in Uzbekistan for the last century. For example, in 1913 the area sown under cotton constituted roughly 35% (out of total sown area) whereas at the end of 1990 it accounted to more than 56%. The area under cereal was reduced from 48% (out of total sown area) in 1913 to only 13% in 1990.

The operation and maintenance of this complex hydraulic infrastructure was supported by central Soviet administration. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the financial flows have been ceased substantially for rehabilitation works. For example, over a 10-year span (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001) the government investment portfolio for irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation has decreased from 27% to 8% and the capital investment for construction to the water sector being reduced by 5 times (UNDP, 2007).

This reduction in investment portfolio has further worsened the operation and maintenance of existing infrastructure and everlasting increase of electricity prices. The increase for electricity costs have ramifications for the sustainability of irrigation infrastructure because as early mentioned about half of total irrigated lands (2.2 million ha) in Uzbekistan are operated via various lift and diversion facilities. Indeed about 80% of the total Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan budget is devoted to electricity costs for operation of lift infrastructure.

Irrigated land quality classification system

An irrigated land quality classification system in Uzbekistan is termed as bonitet. 1 Bonitet Score reflects the soils potential productivity (i.e., yield potential of cotton) based on inherent fertility and quality [START_REF] Noble | Bright spots" in Uzbekistan, reversing land and water degradation while improving livelihoods[END_REF]. It is expressed as a score on the scale of 1 to 100 (Table4). Assessment of irrigated land quality is conducted over every 10 year span in Uzbekistan.

This assessment system is based on the relationship between indicators and characteristics of soils such as the humus content, soil texture, salinity level and erosivity with its productivity. The generalized characteristics of irrigated land quality is quantified by relative quantity values-bonitet score [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF][START_REF] Shadibaev | The lands can be productive, with special treatment and management[END_REF]. The bonitet score is conducted relative to cotton yield of the best soil quality in Uzbekistan, (e.g., cotton yield of 0.04 tons per 1 bonitet score and wheat yield of 0.06 tons per 1 bonitet score). Thus, the classes 1-4 are lands that need amelioration and remedial actions to be undertaken for improving the soils.

The recent official average value of bonitet score for Uzbekistan is estimated to be 55. However, the actual value is estimated to be 52-53. Figure5 depicts the evolution of bonitet score for Uzbekistan. Almost the bonitet score decreased from 60 in the 1970s to 52 in 2000s. As the principle of bonitet classification system was designed to estimate the cotton yield from the field plot. The bonitet score is still used a major indicator for potential crop yields of an agricultural land plot and thus lands with higher bonitet score are more attractive for farmers.

ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS

According to UNESCO (2000) the average percent of irrigated land affected by salinization in Central Asian region is about 23% with a range of the low 6% in Kyrgyzstan and the high 50% in Uzbekistan. In addition, the groundwater table has increased and the area of irrigated land with high groundwater levels (less than 2 meters below the surface) exceeds 30% of the total irrigated land in the region [START_REF] Toderich | Extent of salt affected land in Central Asia: Biosaline agriculture and utilization of the salt-affected resources[END_REF].

Sustainability of irrigated agriculture in Uzbekistan is threatened by the salinization of land and water resources [START_REF] Tookey | The environment, security and regional cooperation in Central Asia[END_REF]. The land and water quality degradation is observed as a result of the excess water withdrawal over the actual crop requirements that impact the crop yields, decreased aggregate national income and affect the livelihoods of population [START_REF] Murray-Rust | Water productivity in the Syr-Darya river basin[END_REF].

These problems are the result of seepage from unlined canals, inadequate provision of surface and subsurface drainage and poor water management. Approximately, half of the irrigated area falls under different types of saltaffected soils and average yield of cotton losses may be as high as 50 percent. The annual economic losses due to land salinity and its abandonment are estimated to be more than US$43 million in Uzbekistan (World Bank, 2003;UNDP, 2007). Though the loss of crop production due to soil salinization is important, salinized land is generally still cultivated since no alternatives are available at present time.

INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT

There have been various main transformations in agricultural production system through primitive nomadic agricultural practices to the sophisticated and heavy mechanized agricultural production in Central Asia region. Table5 depicts the major transformation phases in agricultural farming systems in Uzbekistan for the last century.

Ancient period

The earliest material evidence of irrigated agriculture is dated to the sixth millennium BC, in the simplest form of liman (flood-land) farming [START_REF] Mukhamedjanov | History of irrigation in Bukhara oasis (from ancient to the beginning of XX century)[END_REF]. The evidence also demonstrates a shift from simple use of water resources to increased regulation of seasonal river flows though melioration of individual plots, diverting surplus water and cleaning silt from riverbeds. This allowed increasing the area under irrigation.

In the latter part of the VII century when the region came under Arab control, extensive and sophisticated irrigation networks were constructed which could deliver water for many kilometres from its source to irrigated lands (Irrigation of Uzbekistan, 1979;[START_REF] Mukhamedjanov | History of irrigation in Bukhara oasis (from ancient to the beginning of XX century)[END_REF][START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF][START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Historical irrigation development in Uzbekistan from ancient to present: Past lessons and future perspectives for sustainable development[END_REF]. In this period, the world famous remnants of civilization such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand (Uzbekistan), Merv (Turkmenistan) have emerged.

There were three khanates (kingdoms) -Kokand, Khiva and Bukhara from the XIII to late the XIX centuries in the territory of modern Uzbekistan. The Figure6 depicts the hierarchy over water management in ancient times in Uzbekistan.

The khan (king) was in the head of the water delivery hierarchy. Each of them had a board of khokim and bek -local rulers who were appointed by the khan. Each administrative territory was managed by a khokim or bek. Each khokim or bek had appointed aryk bashi on the main irrigation canal. The aryk bashi is a person who reported on the water level in main irrigation canal and decided what water intake gates to be opened or closed [START_REF] Mukhamedjanov | History of irrigation in Bukhara oasis (from ancient to the beginning of XX century)[END_REF][START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF]. On the level of irrigation ditches, a mirab was responsible for water allocation and operation of irrigation ditches. The mirab was elected by local people in general and local farmers from respected persons within the community for water allocation and distribution. The dekhkans, peasant farmers, were the end users of irrigation water [START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Historical irrigation development in Uzbekistan from ancient to present: Past lessons and future perspectives for sustainable development[END_REF].

The land belonged to the khan and the dekhkans had a long term rent for their plots. The size of the land rented to dekhkans depended on the family size. The tax or rent payment was in the form of raw materials, mainly quarter part of the grain harvest. The average assessment fee was 1/10 of the harvest and it usually went to the mirab. However, the payment was never a consistent percentage of the crop, as the farmer paid depending on how satisfied he was with the job that the mirab was doing (Irrigation of Uzbekistan, 1979;[START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF]. Then the mirab estimated the needed amount of water and paid for the water to the arik bashi. Therefore, the mirabs and dekhkans had no interest in taking any extra amount water that exceeded their needs (Muhamedjanov, 1978).

The dekhkans were free to move to other kingdoms. Therefore, more dekhkans in the kingdom was in the direct interest of each khan. In VI and VII centuries, the region experienced the economical growth in the routine of the Great Silk Road. The taxation system was organized in a very smart way. Onefourth part of the harvest was base whatever the dekhkans grow [START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Historical irrigation development in Uzbekistan from ancient to present: Past lessons and future perspectives for sustainable development[END_REF]. This system was successful because the dekhkans decided what to grow. Usually the agricultural production was market driven. Alternatively, whatever agricultural goods were expensive and needed in the local markets (bazaar), the favor was given to those crops in a given year. Therefore, the state's policy was dependent on market concepts.

For the maintenance and rehabilitation works of the existing irrigation canals and construction of new hydraulic infrastructure the hashar was practiced in the region. Hashar is the action that pulls community to accomplish maintenance, rehabilitation and construction works on voluntary basis in Uzbekistan. This form of actions still widely practiced in Uzbekistan. The hashar accomplished two things. First, it acts as a mobilization mechanism for labour input and material resources within community. Second it was a means of maintenance of infrastructures [START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF][START_REF] Rakhmatullaev | Historical irrigation development in Uzbekistan from ancient to present: Past lessons and future perspectives for sustainable development[END_REF]. Figure7 depicts the hasher work for cleaning irrigation canal in ancient Khorezm.

For example, for the construction or rehabilitation of irrigation canals, mirabs or aryk bashi called for hasher works. Each village had to mobilize their labor force for hashar. Villages at the upstream of the irrigation canal who would expect to receive more and cleaner water were expected to contribute more in terms of time and resources. Hashar was obligatory to all water users to take part in this annual maintenance works. Individuals who refused to participate were fined or denied access to water. Thus, "hashar was a system that linked benefits to duty" [START_REF] O'hara | Lessons from the past: water management in Central Asia[END_REF].

Prior to be in part of the former Soviet Union, Uzbekistan came under Tsarist control after the invasion of Russia. With the new administration, irrigation reforms were attempted to be introduced. However, these reforms failed because of many appointed irrigation officials were unaccustomed to the traditional methods of management and the authorities declared that irrigation would be run "by custom" [START_REF] Thurman | Modes of organization in Central Asian irrigation: The Ferghana valley, 1876-present[END_REF].

Soviet period

There have been two main types of farming systems in the former Soviet Union kholkhoz 2 (cooperative farm) and sovkhoz (state farm). The principal difference between these two forms of ownership was that a sovkhoz was a state enterprise whose workers were employed at fixed wages. By contrast, a kolkhoz paid its workers from its own annual earnings (Yalchin and Mollinga, 2007). According to [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF] by 1940 the collectivization of former private farms (around 800,000 farms) into collective farming systems (kolkhoz) was accomplished through the establishment of 7629 kolkhoz. However, by the end 1990's the proportion of sovkhoz has been increased due to the fact that sovkhoz was considered as more socialist production entity in contrast to the cooperative ownership of kolkhoz. As a result, by the end of 1990's only 9.5% of the total agricultural lands were managed by kolkhoz and sovkhoz -63% respectively.

The kolkhoz type was mainly specialized for production of cotton, fruits and vegetables, tobacco and other (lemon and fishery). On the other hand, the sovkhoz was specialized for production of husbandry, poultry, vineyards, rice, wheat, cotton and others. In 1991, the total number of kolkhoz was 941 with a total irrigated area of 1.5 million ha whereas the total number of sovkhoz was 1017 with a total irrigated area of 2.1 million ha [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF].

In order to increase the agricultural production, the soviets have implemented various progressive measures such as mechanization, agronomic practices, development of irrigation infrastructure. As all kolkhoz and sovkhoz were specialized for production of certain agricultural produce, the central management body compromising with trained irrigation engineers, agronomists, veterinarians and other professionals was put into place. Irrigation water distribution was carried out by professionals and much of subsidies were granted for collective farms. However, the processing and manufacture aspects of agricultural produce were neglected in favor of inter-republic trade in the soviet times (Yalchin and Mollinga, 2007).

Post-independence period

Since the independence of Uzbekistan the situation has changed dramatically in terms of institutional, political and technical systems [START_REF] Veldwisch | Changing patterns of water distribution under the influence of land reforms and simultaneous WUA establishment: Two cases from Khorezm, Uzbekistan[END_REF]. Political transition from planned economy to market has introduced "new" concepts like land tenure, water rights and different kinds of ownership [START_REF] Morgounov | The Legacy of the Soviet agricultural research system for the Republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus[END_REF][START_REF] Yakubov | Mainstreaming rural poor in water resources management: Preliminary lessons of a bottom-up WUA development approach in Central Asia[END_REF].

In 1990, the former collective farms were transformed to collective family farming units called shirkat. The shirkat is a collective farm which pays a fixed monthly salary and supplementary dividends from its annual profits for its workers (Yalchin and Mollinga, 2007). The organizational management of shirkat was similar to the former kolkhoz system with significant difference in contract wheat to the government. A typical area under management of kolkhoz ranges in size from 10,000 to 20,000 ha [START_REF] Noble | Bright spots" in Uzbekistan, reversing land and water degradation while improving livelihoods[END_REF].

arrangements for crop production. Shirkat has single management unit comprising of head, professionals (engineer, agronomist, accountant and etc). Shirkat contracted several brigades (working units) for agricultural production on annual basis for meeting state quota for cotton and wheat yields. In addition, every year the workers would sign a contract with shirkat management for leasing a plot with his/her state quota for cotton and wheat.

As shirkat farming system has shown its inefficiency, private farm system (fermer and dekhkan) has been advocated. The main difference between the two types of farming systems is that fermer farms have contract with central government to meet the targeted cotton and wheat production whereas dekhkan farms do not have such contracts for meeting targeted cotton and wheat crop production and only produce for meeting their own needs. This is true for only cotton and wheat productions (Yakubov and Mathrithilake, 2009).

Fermer is a private farm, successor of kolkhoz and responsible for targeted production of cotton and wheat to the government. The fermer can lease the plot in size ranging from a minimum of 10 ha to several hundred ha, with an average size of approximately 20 ha (as of 2000). These fermer farms have flexibility in the hiring of labor and access to other subsidized inputs from government (such as fertilizers, lease of machinery and access to bank credits). According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan ( 2009) as of 2009 there are about 220,000 fermer farms in Uzbekistan.

Dekhkan farmers have an average plot size of 0.12 ha and do not have the right to hire workers: only family members can work on the plots, which are given to the dekhkan farmers on a lifelong lease and can be passed on as inheritance to their children. There are more than 3.5 million dekhkans in Uzbekistan (UNDP, 2007). Those who are not employed by the new farms (fermer) are officially classified as dekhkan farmers, and work on the small plots allocated to them in the process of land distribution.

All agricultural land is still technically owned by the state and is not tradable or transferable. Leases of private farms (fermer and dekhkan) are in principle valid for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 50 years. Fermer farms have often been subject to arbitrary decisions on the part of local authorities. For example, their land plots can be taken away and reallocated if they do not comply with local authorities' decisions about its use or have shown poor performance over targeted production of cotton and wheat.

The further reforms have been initiated in agricultural production system such as enlargement of fermer farm units in 2008 in Uzbekistan (MAWR of Uzbekistan, 2009). The main objective of recent reforms is to consolidate smaller poor performing fermer farms into efficient large fermer farms. Before this reform there were about 220 000 fermer farms in Uzbekistan with an average agricultural land of 27 ha per fermer farm whereas after the consolidation process the average size of fermer farm becomes 57 ha totaling of 104 000 fermer farms (MAWR Uzbekistan, 2009).

CURRENT CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

The major current challenge facing irrigated agriculture in Central Asia and specifically Uzbekistan is weak water management institutions, i.e., water users associations at on-farm level. It is known that water management is a political process and important part of overall development policy of a given country [START_REF] Abdullaev | Participatory water management at the main canal: A case from South Ferghana canal in Uzbekistan[END_REF]. Many international donor assistance programs have been launched and implemented for institutional interventions in water management in the region. However, interrelated aspects such as financial, technical and governance issues have been bottlenecked for proper progress of such interventions. Prior to discussion of WUA challenges first the farmers current challenges will be discussed in regard to irrigated agriculture.

Challenges for farmers

Land tenure

As previously stated the agricultural lands are not privatized and technically owned by government in Uzbekistan. The farmers are interested in investing their resources for amelioration of lands and improving the irrigation infrastructures in order to increase the agricultural production and their incomes. However, there is no guarantee that their lands can not be taken out and reallocated to different farmers on arbitrary decisions of local authorities. As a result, farmers fear to lose their invested capitals. In Uzbekistan, under the following conditions the farmer land can be taken away and re-allocated: 1) not meeting the targeted cotton and wheat state quota; 2) bankruptcy of farmers; 3) non transparent administrative procedures.

In addition, the farmers fear to invest their own financial resources because the re-allocation can only be carried out by state authorities and farmers cannot sell their land leases to other farmers in order to partially compensate already invested funds. In contracts between the state and farmers there is no clear identification of mutual rights for co-financing of irrigation infrastructures rehabilitation works. In addition, there are no incentives (reduction of state quota for cotton and wheat, tax returns) for farmers in cases of investing resources for rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructures.

Cropping structure

The state quota for cotton and wheat is based on the bonitet scoring system in Uzbekistan as previously discussed. The main bottlenecked aspect is that the bonitet score was carried out in late 2000s and outdated. Most probably the current scores are higher because in most instances the ameliorative soil conditions have deteriorated to date and farmers cannot meet their targeted state quota which in turn is putting them into the high risk of losing their lands. For example, in a given land plot, previously prescribed bonitet score is used for estimation of cotton and wheat yields. Local authorities are reluctant to the reduction of area sown under cotton and wheat, although farmer can meet the targeted yield on smaller area with new fertilizer application or other innovative techniques. The local authorities fear that the decrease of cotton and wheat sown areas can be viewed from higher management hierarchy as non compliance to the common rules. In fact, there is a perception that by reducing the overall area prescribed for sowing cotton and wheat would result a lower crop harvest.

Consulting/Extension service

After the fundamental transformation processes in Uzbekistan, the farmers are left without strong extension/consulting services either private or quasigovernmental. Many farmers are willing to pay for consultancies on new irrigation methods and technologies, cost-effective amelioration techniques, water conservation, legal aspects, marketing. However, there is no legislation for government or private extension and consultancies services in Uzbekistan. Thus the farmers are striving to overcome their current problems with old fashioned common known irrigation and agronomic techniques.

Challenges for Water Users Associations

A WUA is a self-managing group of farmers working together to operate and maintain their irrigation and drainage network (only inter-farm or on-farm level) to ensure fair and equitable water distribution and increase crop yields [START_REF] Kazbekov | Evaluating planning and delivery performance of Water User Associations (WUAs) in Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan[END_REF]. The WUA was established to replace the shirkat for onfarm irrigation infrastructure (canal and small water diversion facilities with gates) operation, maintenance and water distribution. According to the official statistics the total number of WUA is 1711 in Uzbekistan (MAWR of Uzbekistan, 2009). WUAs already serve around 3.6 million ha of land and 111,000 km of irrigation canals in Uzbekistan.

Most of these WUAs were established in the 2003-2006 period and now play an important role in the allocation and distribution of irrigation water, the collection of irrigation service fees and the maintenance of the irrigation infrastructure (Abdullaev et al., 2008). However due to the poor technical and financial capacities of farmer members of these institutions (WUA) and WUA itself is very limited institution for proper operation and maintenance of irrigation infrastructures.

Territorial vs Hydrographic

The current WUA is established on the former kolkhoz territory, i.e., most of the WUA are organized on administrative territorial principle not the hydrographic. A farmer signs an annual contract for irrigation water delivery with WUA in form of its annual membership fee. The geographic location of farmer's field parcel can force him/her to sign several contracts with different WUAs either because of administrative boundaries or several irrigation canals pass through that farmer's land plot. There are also positive aspects of such geographic location such as guaranteed water supply but overall the farmer overpays his dues in comparison with the rest within the concerned area. The most complication arises for farmers located at the tail-end of irrigation system, especially in dry years.

Financial incapacity

Thus the WUA barely can support its limited personnel with monthly salaries from collecting membership fees from individual farmers. In addition, the most professional and trained specialists once worked at collective farms has left for other areas of employment such as business and trade. The current WUA does not have in terms of quantity and quality experts for consulting local farmers on irrigation regimes, cropping structure, appropriate water and agronomic practices and business planning.

WUA's budgetary resources are based on the individual farmers' membership fees. At the moment, each farmer signs an annual contract on irrigation water delivery with the WUA. However, the farmers cannot pay on timely manner their respective membership fees to WUA because many of them can receive their earned money for cotton and wheat (state quota ordered crops) only from the previous harvest year. The state quota system on cotton and wheat has been designed in such way that farmers on its obligation for meeting targeted harvest should produce and sell at government fixed prices. On the other hand, the government subsidizes the inputs (fertilizers, water) for farmers. The farmers can use the rest of low-cost fertilizers for producing other cash crops, fodder for husbandry practice and partially compensate their income earnings. The state quota system is put under critics by many scholars and experts for being inefficient system for agricultural production.

Under Uzbekistan present conditions, the main detrimental factor of this system is not the monetary value of purchased price of cotton and wheat by government. But rather the complicated control of fiscal and financial system, i.e., substantial delays of getting money from banks. In addition, the farmers cannot use their earned funds for barter arrangements.

Increase number of farmers

With the de-collectivization of former soviet collective farms and the emergence of new private forms of farming systems there has been a rapid increase of the number of farms specialized in different cropping structures along a single irrigation canal. Thus each cropping system requires different irrigation application regimes. Many farmers favor to use only simple flooding irrigation methods instead of costly drip irrigation and other alternatives. Thus, WUA can hardly cope with the large number of farmers.

Technical aspects

The most difficult aspect is technical deterioration of existing irrigation infrastructures and improper allocation of funds for operation and maintenance works. There are widely non-existing or heavily deteriorated water measuring structures in place and thus it is extremely inconvenient for monitoring the right amounts of water. In fact, only nominal water measuring mechanisms are widely carried out for payments option of irrigation delivery service fees.

Perspectives

Farmers

The most practical and viable recommendations for individual farmers should be the regulation of legal arrangements defining the concrete and transparent mechanisms for re-allocation procedure of land tenure rights from local government authorities. The most important is that the farmer should have a right to sell his/her land lease for another potential farmer in order to compensate his/her invested assets. Then farmers would be on the safe side and motivated to invest their own technical and financial resources for amelioration of lands and for rehabilitation and maintenance of irrigation infrastructures.

The second paramount aspect is the concrete definition of responsibilities and rights of farmers and government for the amelioration of lands and rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructures in land lease contracts signed between the farmer and the government. In most cases, there is no clear definition of such rights or whole responsibility shifted to farmers. As a result, farmers are at high legal risks under court rulings. The clear and concrete definition of such responsibilities and rights would stimulate farmers to improve the amelioration conditions of their lands and actively participate with technical and material contributions for rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructures.

The third aspect is the incentive mechanisms for farmers' contributions in such activities. For example, the decrease of state quota for cotton and wheat either in quantity or options for farmers to sow the two crops on less parcels while meeting the state quota.

The fourth aspect, the current bonitet scores should be carried out for all lands and updated accordingly by responsible government authorities. In addition, each farmer can hire licensed private consulting company for independent bonitet scoring. There is a dilemma the bonitet score can only be carried out by specialized state organization, thus such licensing should be shifted to private sector and necessary amendments into the regulations should be envisaged. Proper and updated bonitet score would be beneficial both for farmers and government in order to meet state quota on cotton and wheat.

The fifth aspect is provision of farmers with a more flexible system for cultivating different cash crop varieties on their plots. If the government would allow the decreasing of the size of lands sown under cotton and wheat while meeting the state quotas, the remaining lands could be used effectively for cultivation of cash crops. As a result, the income generation would be promising and farmers could contribute for amelioration works and rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructures. There was a promising sign from the government of Uzbekistan in 2008, who has issued the degree that the total size of area sown under cotton should be reduced by 75 000 ha and these lands can be used for cultivation of different crops [START_REF] Shadibaev | The lands can be productive, with special treatment and management[END_REF].

Water Users Associations

The first aspect is development of mechanisms for financial sustainability of WUA. The only source of income for WUA is the annual membership fees from its farmer members. Instead for diversifying the income sources in kind contributions should be introduced as in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (Sehring, 2009). In kinds contributions can be either natural produce or manpower for cleaning irrigation infrastructures. For example, the farmer who installs on his/her own expense the water measuring device can have some privileges, i.e., first irrigation water delivery.

The next aspect is consultancy/extension service for farmers. As Muhamedjanov et al (2008) proposes that consultancy/extension services should be established under the umbrella of the of Basin Irrigation Systems Authority (BISA) which were established for replacing previous provincial water management organizations in Uzbekistan. The main disadvantage of such consultancy/extension service is emergence of another inefficient and bureaucratic machine. Instead the consultancy/extension should be in solely form of private companies at the WUA level. The reasons are that WUA is directly working with individual farmers and such private companies with WUA partnership will have substantial impacts as cost-effectiveness and targeted consultancy service provision. Another important aspect as early mentioned is that there is no legal framework for such consultancies. For extension service the prominent academic universities and research institutions with WUA and private consultancy companies can have synergetic partnerships for training and knowhow technology transfer.

CONCLUSION

The Central Asian countries have faced new challenges for practicing sustainable irrigated agriculture and in particular in term of institutional challenges. The physical deterioration of irrigation and drainage infrastructures is technical issue that would impede the constraints on agricultural production, environmental concerns and as a result on the impact of livelihoods conditions for many million farmers. In fact poor conditions of irrigation infrastructures impact the efficient irrigation water distribution at various levels of irrigation conveyance system. The global climate change and transboundary nature of water resources would be major supplemental aspects for sustainability of irrigated agriculture production in the Central Asia.

The national and international donor programs would play a pivotal role for reversing the current situation if the intervention measures would be targeted to institutional changes such as land tenure, water rights, and incentives for rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage networks.

Figure1.

  Figure1. The location of Uzbekistan and Central Asia

Bonitet is used by Government officials to classify land into classes based on their potential productivity and quality to set annual production targets for a farm.

Kolkhoz (Russian). A large collective farm comprises several agricultural experts and farm laborers responsible for agricultural production and delivery targeted outputs for cotton and

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the French Embassy in Tashkent for supporting the French-Uzbek cooperation in the field of agriculture and water sciences. This study has also been supported by INTAS fellowship Nr. 04-83-3665 and by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Eiffel fellowship program No. 530909C. However, the views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies, and no official endorsement should be inferred from it.

LIST OF TABLES

Table1. Soil type distribution in Uzbekistan [START_REF] Talipov | Land resources of Uzbekistan and their rational use[END_REF]