
Irrigation of land in the next 10 years will require about 2.3 billion euros.
This is provided for by the draft National Strategy for the Development of the Irrigation Sector for 2021-2030, developed by a special parliamentary commission, which will soon be submitted for public consultations. The document stipulates that in the next ten years, about 250 thousand hectares of agricultural land will be equipped with high-performance irrigation equipment. For these purposes, investments of about 2.27 billion euros are required. According to the independent deputy Alexandru Oleinic, chairman of the special commission for the development of the strategy, this document defines and plans the policy of the Moldovan government in relation to the development of the sector. According to Oleinic, as a result of the implementation of Strategy, the annual gross profit that the agricultural sector will receive is estimated at 1.17 billion euros, the contribution of agriculture to national GDP will increase from 9.8% to 12.25%, and the number of jobs in the industry will increase from 21% to 26%. Alexandru Oleinic also clarified that the implementation of the strategy will solve a number of problems related to infrastructure, environmental protection, preservation and formation of water reserves in the soil, afforestation, etc. According to the deputy's estimates, the cost of destroyed irrigation systems is currently estimated at about 15 billion lei, and as a result, the profit lost in the last 10 years alone due to the lack of irrigation is about 8.5 billion euros. He clarified that climate change, severe drought and other environmental issues clearly show that in order to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture with sufficient water supply and to meet consumer needs, authorities must provide effective policies for the entire water supply chain. The head of the group of experts on the development of the document Vasilie Bumacov, presenting the draft strategy, clarified that in order to achieve the goal of 250 thousand hectares of irrigated land in the next 10 years, annually, until 2030, should be built / equipped, connected to sustainable sources of high-quality water about 11 thousand hectares of land. For this, the existing centralized irrigation systems will be rehabilitated on an area of 108 thousand hectares, new projects will be developed to supply water from the main sources - the Dniester, Prut and Danube rivers on an area of 112 thousand hectares, and due to the own investments of farmers, projects to support them and subsidizing will develop small irrigation systems on an area of 30 thousand hectares. // 29.04.2021 - InfoMarket