Parliament passed in the first reading a bill providing that drip irrigation will be allowed in areas where there is no surface water, but there are sufficient underground water reserves, including suitable for drinking, IPN reports.

The bill author, Liberal-Democratic MP Ion Balan said the groundwater reserves will be used rationally for developing agriculture, especially for intensive and super-intensive multiannual plantations (orchards, vineyards, fruit bushes, vegetables). “Without irrigation, it’s impossible to obtain agricultural production of a high quality, which would be competitive on the export markets, both from the west and from the east,” stated the lawmaker.

The opposition didn’t support the bill, saying that the groundwater reserves in Moldova are inadequate.