Moldovan irrigation systems to be restored
Agricultural producers from Criuleni, Orhei, Anenii Noi and Nisporeni towns, will benefit from renewed irrigation systems. A total of seven Associations of Irrigation Water Users (AIWU) will be endowed this week, with modern equipment purchased by the Millennium Challenges Fund Moldova.
The AIWU from Criuleni was granted a 10-thousand-dollar donation on 22 October. The money will be used to restore the current irrigation system, which is old, operationally and energy inefficient. Besides, the system has its irrigation networks damaged, requiring exaggerate costs for its energy use.
Agriculture and Food Minister Vasile Bumacov said at the donation ceremony, the restored irrigation systems will be endowed with automatic pumps managing the water request. The systems will also be endowed with a remote data transmission through GSM network and other aspects increasing the efficiency of the central irrigation system's functioning. The rest of the AIWU established near irrigation areas, are going to be rehabilitated and similarly endowed this week, within the Compact Programme of the Millennium Challenges Fund Moldova. Subsequently, four associations which are going to replace several irrigation stations, which are currently out of use, will also be endowed with equipment and necessary furniture.
According to Bumacov, given the stances of the drought, which has lately become a rather severe problem for Moldova, the future of the Moldovan agriculture depends on irrigation. The minister welcomed the Compact Programme's initiative to establish a functional framework within the management of the central irrigation systems, by rehabilitating them and creating associations.
The support is offered within the project «Transition to high value agriculture of the Compact Programme», signed by Moldovan and American governments in early 2010. The total value of the programme amounts to 262 million dollars. The grant is meant to increase the people's income in 2010-15 by developing the road infrastructure, restoring irrigation systems and fostering the shift to value-added agriculture.
Adapted from Moldpres