PROCEEDINGS
OF THE TOMSK ORDER OF THE RED BANNER OF LABOR POLYTECHNIC
INSTITUTE named after S. M. KIROV

Volume 178　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　1969

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF THE USE IN AGRICULTURE OF BOGS AND WETLANDS OF THE WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN

A. V. TIKHONOV

The foundations of the reclamation of bogs and wetlands have been comprehensively developed by our national science, and the practice of collective and state farms has accumulated considerable experience in the successful use of peat-bog soils in agriculture. By 1965 the area of drained and developed lands in the country had reached 11 million ha, mainly through the drainage and development of bogs and wetlands in the European part of the RSFSR, in Belorussia, in Ukraine, and in the Baltic region. In the eastern regions of the country, in particular on the territory of the West Siberian Plain, the reclamation of bogs and wetlands has a “pioneering” character; therefore the areas of drained and developed bogs and wetlands here are still insignificant.

Among the urgent measures for the further advance of agriculture, the March (1965) Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee and the XXIII Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union set the task of draining 6 million ha in the coming five-year period and bringing the area of drained and developed lands to 17 million ha by 1970. In carrying out this task, a definite role is assigned also to the eastern regions of the Union, including Western Siberia. The agricultural development of peat areas is acquiring special significance in the future for a number of industrially developing central and northern districts of the West Siberian Plain.

The central and northern districts of the plain, which are included in Tyumen, Tomsk, Omsk, and Novosibirsk oblasts, possess enormous areas of bogs (more than 72.5 million ha) and wetlands. Part of the wetlands is included in agricultural lands—pastures and hayfields (more than 1.3 million ha). The distribution of bogs and wet agricultural lands in the territory under study, according to data of the Main Administration of Land Use and Land Management, Soil Protection and Protective Afforestation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the RSFSR as of November 1, 1965 (in thousand ha), is shown in the table.

Tyumen Oblast is especially heavily waterlogged, and among its individual parts—the Khanty-Mansi National Okrug and the northern districts of the oblast (Tobolsk, Vagai); in these places bogs occupy up to 3–3.5 million ha, covering from \(2/5\) to \(1/2\) and more of the entire land area. In second place in terms of the prevalence of bogs is Tomsk Oblast, in particular its northern districts (Aleksandrovsky, Verkhne-Kets-

sky, Parabelsky, Chainsky, Bakcharsky), where bogs occupy from 1 to 2 million ha and cover 1.3–2.5 of the entire territory. If, overall for Tyumen and Tomsk oblasts, the total area of bogs exceeds the size of all agricultural lands by 5–6 times, then in some places this difference is still more significant: for example, in the Khanty-Mansi National Okrug—almost 20 times, and in Parabelsky District of Tomsk Oblast—22 times.

Table

Distribution of bogs and waterlogged agricultural lands in the central and northern districts of the West Siberian Plain
(thousand ha)

In Novosibirsk and Omsk oblasts, the share of bogs in the structure of the land fund is considerably lower than the corresponding indicators for Tyumen and Tomsk oblasts (less than 1/5); however, their northern districts are also heavily waterlogged, concentrating 0.5–1.0 million ha of bogs.

In terms of the size of waterlogged natural forage lands, the Khanty-Mansi Okrug stands out: there, waterlogged hayfields and pastures occupy 15.6% of the area of all agricultural lands. Significant tracts of waterlogged natural forage lands are located predominantly in the northern districts of Tyumen, Novosibirsk, and Tomsk oblasts.

The bogs of the West Siberian Plain, especially its central part, constitute the world’s largest center of peat accumulation. The world’s largest peat deposits are concentrated here, both in area and in depth of occurrence.

Along with industrial-energy use and the application of peat as a raw material for the chemical and construction industries, peat from West Siberian deposits can be used in agricultural production, in a wide variety of ways: for preparing peat composts and other types of highly effective peat-based fertilizers, for bedding for livestock and poultry, etc. Especially valuable for these purposes are peat tracts of lowland and partly transitional types, which constitute more than one-third of all peat deposits in the region under consideration. In a number of districts of the plain, mainly in the taiga southwest (from Tyumen

as far as Tobolsk and somewhat north of it), the peat also contains a significant amount of vivianite, which contains a certain quantity of various complexes of phosphoric acid; this further enhances the importance of local lowland peats as a most valuable fertilizer.

The use of peat-bog massifs of the lowland and partly transitional types for expanding valuable agricultural lands—arable fields—and for growing various agricultural crops on them is very important and promising. According to data from the Ministry of Geology of the RSFSR, in the regions of the West Siberian Lowland it is possible to bring into agricultural circulation about 5 million ha of peat areas suitable for growing potatoes and vegetables, grain crops, and, in a number of places, industrial crops, and for organizing highly intensive livestock feed production and mechanized haymaking.

At present, within the territory of the West Siberian Lowland, Tyumen Oblast stands out in land-reclamation construction; there, reclamation work is being carried out at 38 sites for draining bogs and waterlogged lands with a total area of 66.4 thousand ha. On collective-farm lands 31.3 thousand ha are being drained, and on state-farm lands 35.1 thousand ha.

To carry out work on reclamation and the development of drained lands, the improvement of meadows and pastures, and also the extraction and application of fertilizers to the soil, 7 machine-reclamation stations were organized in 1962, mainly in the southern part of the oblast. In subsequent years, several MMS were organized in the northern districts of the oblast (Tobolsk, Vagai, and others). In 1965 the first machine-reclamation station in the Khanty-Mansi National Okrug was organized—the Surgut station. In the coming years several more MMS will be created in the okrug: the Lugovskaya in Kondinsky District, the Serginskaya in Oktyabrsky District, and others. It is planned to expand somewhat the network of reclamation stations in the central districts of the oblast as well (Zavodoukovskaya, Sorokinskaya, and others).

The machine-reclamation stations and construction organizations of the Tyumenmeliovodstroi trust are well equipped with modern machinery—dozens of tractors, grubbers and brush cutters, bulldozers, excavators, including bog excavators, drilling units, and various agricultural machines. About 2 thousand workers and engineering-technical personnel are employed in reclamation work. Each MMS consists of 4–5 brigades: a reclamation-construction brigade, a brigade for peat extraction and hauling fertilizers, and 2–3 brigades engaged in cultural-technical work to improve meadows and pastures.

During the first two years of work, the machine-reclamation stations developed 28.4 thousand ha of waterlogged lands in collective and state farms (of which 4.2 thousand ha were put into operation), improved 5 thousand ha of meadows and pastures, and prepared and transported to the fields about 600 thousand tons of peat and peat composts. In 1965, another 4.6 thousand ha of waterlogged lands were developed on the collective farms of Sorokinsky, Yarkovsky, Tobolsky, and Vagaisky districts and on the state farms of Tyumensky and Omutinsky districts; alongside this, radical improvement of meadows and pastures was carried out over an area of 8.1 thousand ha, and surface improvement over 6.1 thousand ha.

The area of drained massifs of waterlogged lands generally ranges from 0.4 thousand ha in the southern districts to 2.8 thousand ha in the northern part of the oblast. However, individual drainage massifs reach 3.5–5.6 thousand ha (for example, in the Yalutorovsky and Lugovsky state farms, or in the collective farm named after the XXII Congress of the CPSU in Zavodoukovsky District).

Tomsk Oblast lags considerably behind Tyumen Oblast in the reclamation of bogs and waterlogged lands. At present only two bogs are being drained here: the Shegaro-Iksinskoye (1032 ha) and the Chaginskoye; it is not yet possible to judge the results of the agricultural development of these bogs. In the oblast there is experience of successful drainage and agricultural-

agricultural development of the Sukhovskoe bog (a spur of the Vasyugan peat massif), where in 1934 the “Progress” collective farm of Bakcharskii District built a drainage system over an area of 0.5 thousand ha; good yields of potatoes were obtained here (up to 300 centners per ha), root crops (up to 500–600 centners per ha), grain crops, including wheat (up to 23 centners per ha), and perennial grasses (25–50 centners per ha). Unfortunately, at present this drained and well-cultivated bog massif has been abandoned and is used neither for growing agricultural crops, nor for haymaking, nor for grazing livestock.

The features of reclamation of bog and waterlogged lands under the conditions of the West Siberian Lowland may appropriately be considered using the example of the drainage and agricultural development of the typical “limy” bog “Kuprinskoe”—part of a large waterlogged massif situated northeast of the village of Kazbaevo (land use of the Sverdlov collective farm), Yarkovskii District, Tyumen Oblast*.

The drained massif consists mainly of bog and, in part, sod-podzolic soil types with various soil varieties. Almost half of the area is occupied by lowland bogs with peat-bog soils of medium and shallow depth (peat thickness 30–100 cm). On the waterlogged mineral lands (1/3 of the area), peaty-bog soils predominate (with peat thickness up to 30 cm); humus-bog and sod-strongly podzolic gley soils are also represented in this belt. In the near-bog belt (less than 1/5 of the territory), sod-strongly podzolic soils occur predominantly.

Among the lands to be drained (510 ha), lowland bogs make up 315 ha, and waterlogged lands 195 ha; 484 ha are being developed, of which 300 ha are bogs. Here the construction of an open drainage system has been planned and partly carried out; it consists of conducting and regulating networks. The conducting drainage network is represented by a main canal and 14 transporting collectors with a total length of more than 22 km. The regulating network consists of 22 open collectors arranged parallel to one another at a distance of 200 m, at an acute angle to the contour lines, and of mole drainage, represented in areas with peat thickness of more than 1 m (150 ha) by mole drains, which enter the open drains from both sides at an acute angle to the contour lines of the bottom, at a distance of 40 m from one another. They are cut by a DDM-5 drainage-disk machine. The minimum gradient of the main canal is 0.0002, and that of the transporting collectors is 0.0003. The receiving watercourse is the Shestakovka River—the left tributary of the Tobol River—which flows south of the Kuprinskoe bog.

For rational use of the drained territory, it is planned to develop a five-field crop rotation with the cultivation of the following crops: 1st field—grain crops and industrial crops (for silage); 2nd field—vetch-oat mixture; 3rd field—row crops, root crops, and vegetables; 4th field—silage crops and grain legumes; 5th field—grain crops. On drained peat-bog soils, among grain crops, oats for grain, green fodder, and hay are grown most successfully. Winter rye also grows well, but it withstands flooding by spring freshet waters for no more than 3–4 days. With more prolonged flooding, it is preferable to sow spring rye. Early-ripening varieties of wheat grow satisfactorily.

*) In studying the features of reclamation and agricultural development of the bog and waterlogged lands of the “Kuprinskoe” peat massif, materials of the State Institute for the Design of Agricultural Construction in the regions of Siberia (“Sibgiproselkhozstroi,” Novosibirsk) for 1962 were used, as well as reporting data of the Water Management Department of the Tyumen Oblast Executive Committee of the Soviet of Working People’s Deputies on the results of development of this bog in 1964–1965.

Various leguminous grains (vetch, fodder beans, peas), as well as sunflower (for silage), many root crops (fodder beet, carrot, turnip, swede), and vegetables are grown successfully. When potatoes are grown, early-ripening varieties are preferred, after prior chitting. Perennial grasses grow well (timothy, awnless brome, meadow oat grass, alsike clover, etc.), giving high hay yields. The cultivation of corn does not give positive results.

The set of agromeliorative measures on drained lands includes narrow-strip plowing (in strips 12–15 m wide), mole drainage and selective furrowing, and the obligatory application of organic (manure) and mineral fertilizers.

Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain complete data on the yields of agricultural crops cultivated on the drained Kuprinskoye bog. The situation is complicated by the fact that in 1964–1965 the Ievlevo machine-reclamation station poorly cultivated a large part of the drained lands of this bog, as a result of which the yields proved very low in comparison with yields on drained and developed lands of other bogs. Therefore, it seems more advisable to examine the economic efficiency of draining and using waterlogged lands in agriculture by analyzing the results of the development of bogs and waterlogged lands by other machine-reclamation stations, collective farms, and state farms.

In 1964 the Arkhangelsk machine-reclamation station, on the Lenin collective farm of Yalutorovsk District, carried out the diversion of stagnant waters and small-scale cultural-engineering works on an area of 150 ha, for which 6.9 thousand rubles were spent, or 46 rubles per 1 ha*). In 1965 the collective farm cut about 4 thousand centners of hay (27 centners per 1 ha), worth 9.7 thousand rubles. Previously this area had not been mown. Thus, the costs of draining and improving the waterlogged hayfields not only paid for themselves within one year, but also yielded a profit of 2.8 thousand rubles.

In the Gilevsky state farm of Yarkovo District, in 1964, reclamation and cultural-engineering works were carried out on previously unused bog and waterlogged soils (437 ha), with costs of 67 rubles per 1 ha. In autumn the state farm sowed 100 ha of winter rye mixed with foxtail for hay and 100 ha of winter rye for grain on the improved lands, and in 1965 obtained, from each hectare, a yield of 27.5 centners of hay and 10 centners of winter rye grain. Each sown hectare yielded an income of 67 rubles 50 kopecks. Thus, the costs of improving the bog and waterlogged lands in the Gilevsky state farm also paid for themselves within one year.

On the Kuibyshev collective farm of Yarkovo District, 220 ha of waterlogged lands were drained; in 1965, 130 ha of a pea-oat mixture (for hay), 70 ha of oats, and 20 ha of wheat were sown there. Before these lands were improved, no more than 60 tons of low-quality hay had been gathered from the entire 220 ha area; in 1965, 325 tons of hay were gathered (25 centners per 1 ha), along with 15 centners of oats and 10 centners of wheat per 1 ha. With improvement costs of 83–85 rubles per 1 ha, the collective farm received, from each hectare of improved land, an income of 72–75 rubles in just one year of using them.

In the Pesyanovsky state farm of Ishim District, the Ishim machine-reclamation station carried out reclamation works on an area of 400 ha of the Rechkinskoye bog, which had been used only partly for selective hand mowing. The costs of surface improvement (36.5 rubles per 1 ha) paid for themselves within one year: the state farm harvested 15 centners per 1 ha, or a total of 6 thousand centners of hay. At the same time, the reclamation improvement of waterlogged

*) Here and below, all calculations were made according to data from the Water Management Department of the Tyumen Regional Executive Committee of the Soviet of Working People’s Deputies.

lands made it possible to replace manual labor with mechanized hay harvesting, saving 1 ruble 27 kopecks on the harvesting of each centner and producing a total saving in hay harvesting of about 7.6 thousand rubles.

Similar data could be cited for the Kolos collective farm, the Mizonovsky and Opyonovsky state farms, and other farms of Tyumen Oblast; all of them testify quite convincingly to the economic efficiency of draining and developing boggy and waterlogged lands under the conditions of the West Siberian Lowland.

However, in a number of farms, drained boggy and waterlogged lands are not used fully, and in some cases are used very poorly. Thus, at the Yalutorovsk state farm, where about 128 thousand rubles were spent in 1963–1964 on draining 1.5 thousand ha of waterlogged lands, neither plowing nor subsequent soil cultivation is being carried out in a timely manner; as a result, over the course of two years the drained area has not brought the farm the expected income.

At the Salairsky state farm, the area drained during 1963–1964 was used only 60%. In 1965, of the 1,154 ha of land prepared by the reclamation workers, more than half again was not used; the unused area is becoming overgrown with weeds and shrubs, bringing no income, although 170 rubles were spent on draining and cultivating each hectare. At the same time, on the 570 ha of drained area sown in 1965, the yield of wheat was 12 centners, rye 10 centners, and annual grasses 25 centners per hectare.

In the last three years the Armizonskaya Machine-Reclamation Station has not put into operation a single hectare of the 1,320 ha of drained lands, although expenditures on drainage and cultural-technical measures amounted to 190 thousand rubles, or 144 rubles per ha.

Meanwhile, it is hardly possible to raise any objections in principle to the necessity of making rational use of every hectare of drained bogs and waterlogged lands—an important reserve for increasing the production of agricultural products, so necessary for the rapidly growing population of the regions of new economic development in Western Siberia.