The irrigated area in Hungary should be fivefolded

To keep competitiveness of Hungarian plant production, the irrigated area in Hungary should be increased fivefold. Currently there is 100 thousand hectares of irrigated area in Hungary.

According to Ligetvári Ferenc the water management professor of Szent István University, Gödöllő, to develop the irrigation system, funds, government will and the alliance of stakeholders are missing. Ligetvári Ferenc added on the technical meeting on Tuesday that because of the climate change, less precipitation is falling in the Carpathian Basin, as before. Furthermore, the annual distribution is also negative, often in the form of a sudden rain storms. The rapid dissemination of irrigation culture would be necessary, but even in the absence of appropriate incentives the existing equipments are still unused. Currently, 20 percent of the agricultural crops are cultivated in the irrigated area, which is less than 2 percent. According to the professor it is not only the 1.5 million HUF investment per hectare but also a high degree of organization and the cooperation of the farmers will also be required – reports Népszabadság Online.