Mirzachoʻl (Russian:Голодная степь,lit. 'Hungry Steppe') is aloess plain of some 10,000 km2 on the left bank ofSyr Darya inUzbekistan, extending from the mouth ofFerghana Valley on the border withTajikistan to the east acrossSirdaryo Region and the northern part ofJizzakh Region to the west. To the south it is bounded byTurkestan Range.
Geographically Mirzachoʻl Steppe is a south-eastern extension of theKyzyl Kum desert, with about 240 mm of annual precipitation and extreme continental climate (average temperatures from 28°C in July to −2°C in January).[1] Efforts that began as early as the end of the 19th century gradually transformed the Mirzachoʻl Steppe from a desert into an intensively irrigated agricultural area, today one of the major cotton and grain producing regions of Uzbekistan with around 500,000 hectares of irrigated land under cultivation.[2] Three main canals constructed in the 1950s and the 1960s bring water to Mirzachoʻl Steppekolkhozes andsovkhozes. These are the north-south Central and Northern Canals and the east-west South Mirzachoʻl Steppe Canal.
Guliston andYangiyer, both inSirdaryo Region, are the main population centers in Mirzachoʻl Steppe.
40°24′49″N68°21′19″E / 40.4136°N 68.3554°E /40.4136; 68.3554
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