Moldovan PM demands identifying optimum solutions to provide farmers with water for soil irrigation

Chisinau, 17 June /MOLDPRES/ - The problem of farmers’ provision with enough resources of qualitative water for irrigating soils has been the subject of a working meeting convened by Prime Minister Pavel Filip. Attending the meeting was Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Eduard Grama, the president of the Academy of Sciences and leaders of competent institutions, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.   

In the beginning of the meeting, the PM demanded that the actors involved prove a constructive approach and come up with viable solutions, to facilitate farmers’ access to water for irrigation. At the same time, Pavel Filip asked for presentation of real data on the quantity of surface and underground water available, its quality, as well as about its subsequent impact on the soil’s quality.  

“We bring for discussion a question, which farmers, citizens or representatives of the local public administration put me each time when I meet them; it is about the soil’s irrigation. I want that we reach a conclusion on the quantity and origin of the waters than can be used for irrigation and create possibility for farmers to use them,” the prime minister said.   

According to information unveiled by the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry, Moldova presently has about 50,000 hectares of orchards, plantations of vine, vegetables and greenhouses in need of irrigation. Creating possibility of use of underground waters in irrigation, in a controlled and dozed way, would allow farmers developing their business and having a constant production, including on periods of drought.   

At the same time, at the meeting, representatives of the Environment Ministry and ASM declared for a more intense exploitation of waters from rivers, lakes, as well as the ones accumulated following precipitation. Present surveys show that the underground water has a high degree of mineralization, and to be used in irrigation, farmers should have special, costly filters. The use of underground waters with a high level of mineralization, without a preceding filtering, destroys the soil’s quality.      

The PM demanded that the authorities in charge unveil updated information on the waters which farmers might use in irrigation and working out a comprehensive working plan, with well-defined deadlines, in order to give farmers possibility to modernize their irrigation infrastructure and have access to enough quantities of water.  

(Editor L. Alcaza)