During the past ten years, the Republic of Moldova failed to make a profit of €8.5 billion owing to the absence of irrigation systems. The cost of the given systems that became nonfunctional the last few years is of about 15 billion lei, according to estimates. The development of the sector is important given that 50% of the products exported by Moldova are agrifood ones, independent MP Alexandru Oleinic stated in a meeting centering on the development of the irrigation sector, IPN reports.

According to the MP, the areas of irrigated farmland decreased considerably the last few years – from several hounded thousand hectares in 1990 to 17,000 hectares in 2020. The lack of a national irrigation system has an impact not only on the productivity of the agricultural sector, but also practically excludes the perspective of attracting investments in technologies and modern plantations.

Alexandru Oleinic noted that the draft national strategy for developing the irrigation sector until 2030, which was produced by a special commission and proposed for public debates, provides that about 250,000 hectares of farmland will be covered by modern irrigation equipment during the next ten years. A total of about €2.27 billion is needed for the purpose.

Ex-minister of agriculture Vasile Bumacov, who headed the group of experts who drafted the strategy, said that to achieve the goal of increasing the irrigated areas to 250,000 ha during the next ten years, about 11,000 ha of land will be annually connected to irrigation systems supplied from sustainable sources of high-quality water until 2030. For the purpose, the existing centralized irrigation systems on an area of 108,000 ha will be rehabilitated. There will be developed new projects to bring water inland from the main sources – the Nistru, Prut and Danube Rivers – on an area of 112,000 ha. Also, small-scale irrigation systems will be set up on an area of 30,000 ha with own funds of farmers, through famer support and subsidization projects.

According to MP Nicolae Ciubuc, ex-minister of agriculture, the irrigation system should be declared “of national priority” as the achievement of the set objectives will enable to solve the problems not only in agriculture, but also in other sectors of the economy, social sphere, etc.

For his part, PAS MP Vladimir Bolea noted that the strategy for developing the irrigation sector should become an important component of a national sustainable economic development strategy.