As in the rest of the world, the main problem in Ukraine is climate change, and the question of land irrigation is becoming increasingly pressing. The rate of air-temperature increase in Ukraine is outpacing global trends, meaning Ukraine is likely to see intensifying and spreading droughts, and a growing area of land prone to desertification.
Since 1991, every subsequent decade has been warmer than the one before: 1991-2000 – by 0.5°C, 2001-2010 – by 1.2°C, 2011-2019 – by 1.7°C. There’s a trend toward growth in the area with insufficient rainfall (that is, under 400 mm) during the warm season.
Questions are being raised not only about growing gross domestic output or agricultural incomes – irrigation is already, in effect, a socio-political matter. Ukraine’s southern territories, and the viability of farming there, are at risk.
In total, 18.7 million ha of arable land in Ukraine needs permanent irrigation, and 4.8 million ha needs periodic irrigation, and this figure will only keep growing given climate change.
Restoring the land-reclamation sector is becoming a national project through 2024, and already in 2021, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food is launching a pilot project to restore irrigation systems in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The government is beginning to unify the regulatory framework for environmentally safe irrigation, watering and drainage: in 2021, irrigation systems in the South will be included in the “Great Construction” programme.
The State Water Resources Agency of Ukraine names the following as the main reasons irrigated land goes unused:
- a shortage of water resources when expanding irrigated areas, and no irrigation source for bringing new irrigated land into use;
- the parcelling-out of irrigated land;
- a lack of stable farmer demand for irrigation;
- deteriorating technical condition of irrigation systems (they were built in the 1960s-90s);
- an insufficient number of sprinkler machines (against a total need of about 26,000 units for 1.7 million ha of irrigated area, only 6,000 sprinkler machines are available).
But all these reasons can conditionally be reduced to one – the main problem – a lack of legal and financial capacity to invest in land-reclamation infrastructure. That covers both on-farm infrastructure used by agricultural producers, and inter-farm infrastructure on the State Water Resources Agency’s balance sheet.
In 2019, the government adopted a strategy for irrigation and drainage in Ukraine through 2030. In line with this strategy, a plan of measures for implementing the irrigation and drainage strategy was adopted in 2020.
The main measures are:
- inventorying land-reclamation infrastructure;
- an energy audit of pumping stations;
- an audit of how reclaimed land is used;
- introducing a water-user organization institution;
- developing a feasibility study;
- establishing a business entity.
In 2021-2023, Ukraine plans to introduce additional lines of state support for irrigation:
- partial compensation for the cost of capital investment in irrigation and drainage infrastructure facilities;
- preferential lending for building irrigation facilities and restoring drainage systems;
- providing state portfolio guarantees to entities that lack adequate collateral.
In April, a draft resolution was published on the “Procedure for using funds provided in the state budget for state support to agricultural producers using reclaimed land,” which amended clause 4.3 to read: “purchasing machinery, mechanisms and equipment for carrying out technological operations in irrigated farming (hereinafter — machinery, mechanisms and equipment) per the list of such machinery, mechanisms and equipment approved by the Ministry of Economy — up to 25% of their value”.
“The logic of state support around the world is to lend a financial hand to stimulate domestic-producer growth. Companies that manufacture irrigation equipment are no exception. What the Ministry of Economic Development is trying to quietly push through government — a state subsidy for manufacturers of imported irrigation equipment — is unacceptable,” comments Viacheslav Hlotov, Director of the “Land Reclamation Association” Civil Union, on the changes to the draft resolution.
Agribusiness representatives managed to defend state support for domestic irrigation-equipment manufacturers at an open meeting between farmers and Minister of Agrarian Policy Roman Leshchenko (opens in a new tab).
“At first, the discussion was about leaving the choice up to agricultural producers. Taras Vysotskyi emphasized that point. But then representatives of the domestic industry spoke up in support of the domestic manufacturer, and the minister summed up that we’ll move in this direction, in support of the domestic manufacturer. And that’s correct, because Ukrainian taxpayers’ money should be spent supporting domestic producers, not foreign ones,” said Viacheslav Hlotov.
The specialist added that adopting the Cabinet of Ministers’ draft resolution will make it possible to compensate costs (excluding value-added tax) incurred by business entities for work, purchasing materials and equipment for restoring existing and/or building new on-farm irrigation systems, work on building and installing drip-irrigation systems and purchasing drip-irrigation materials and equipment, purchasing domestically produced machinery, mechanisms and equipment for technological operations in irrigated farming, and new construction and reconstruction of pumping stations, water-intake and water-regulation structures including storage basins, carried out between October 1 of the previous year and September 30 of the current year.
Ahead of the 2021 season, the main preparatory work on inter-farm irrigation systems has been carried out, including:
- 122.7 thousand m³ of silt cleared from canals, or 103% of plan;
- 1.8 thousand units of hydraulic engineering structures repaired — 98%;
- 2.9 thousand pump-power units — 95%;
- 719 pumping stations prepared — 89%, 2.4 thousand km of canals — 96%;
- 496 water gauges repaired — 89%.
Ukraine has 5.49 million ha of reclaimed land, including 2.18 million ha of irrigated and 3.31 million ha of drained land with corresponding land-reclamation infrastructure. Nearly 19 million ha of arable land needs permanent irrigation, and 4.8 million ha needs water regulation.
Irrigated area
Ukraine’s irrigated land, 2014-2020, thousand ha
As of 1990, hydro-engineering reclamation was carried out on 22.9 million ha of land, but unfortunately, since independence, this figure has shrunk by almost 98%.
Over 2014-2017, there was a decline in land actually irrigated, from 0.51 million ha to 0.46 million ha, or 9.8%. But since 2018 (0.46 million ha), the amount of irrigated land began growing, and in 2020 the largest area was irrigated — 0.55 million ha. For 2021, the State Water Resources Agency of Ukraine has set a target of 0.62 million ha, but the area capable of supplying water for irrigating crops stands at 0.61 million ha (96% of plan).
Volume of water used for irrigation
In 2020, 950.34 million m³ was used for agricultural activity and related services. The most water was used on ancillary crop-production activity — 667.81 million m³, growing grain crops (excluding rice), legumes and oilseed crops — 242.93 million m³.
Significantly less water was used growing vegetables and melon crops, root vegetables and tubers — 22.44 million m³, growing pome and stone fruit — 8.26 million m³, and livestock farming — 4.34 million m³.
Irrigation prices rise every year; in 2018, water tariffs rose 35% compared with 2017. The average tariff nationwide was 1.2 hryvnia per 1 m³ of water. The most expensive irrigation was in Odesa region — 1.8 hryvnia per 1 m³, in Zaporizhzhia region water cost farmers 1.05 hryvnia per 1 m³, and in Kherson region — 0.94. The difference in tariffs is explained by the average height to which pumping stations lift water to the fields, meaning 75-80% of the tariff is shaped by electricity prices, which is what’s spent lifting the water.
Which crops dominate under irrigation, in figures
Area harvested on irrigated land, 2016-2020, thousand ha
The harvested area on irrigated land keeps growing every year. So from 2014 to 2020, the area under grain and legume crops grew the most, by 84%, to 188.5 thousand ha.
In 2020, this included wheat — 74.0 thousand ha, corn — 59.5 thousand ha, barley — 35.2 thousand ha, rice — 11.2 thousand ha.
The area under irrigated vegetable crops grew 15%, to 22.7 thousand ha. In 2020, the most irrigated crop was tomatoes — 9.9 thousand ha, onions — 4.0 thousand ha, and carrots — 1.9 thousand ha.
Sunflower deserves a separate mention, with its irrigated area growing 60% over 6 years, to 72.1 thousand ha. Soybean showed the opposite trend, with its irrigated area shrinking 25% in 2020 compared with 2014, though through 2018 the area only kept growing, and the largest amount of irrigated land was in 2017 — 134.4 thousand ha.
Crops and irrigated areas in 2020
According to specialists’ forecasts, climate change will negatively affect the soil’s natural moisture supply. As a result, the role of irrigation and drainage in agricultural production will only keep growing.
Despite Ukraine already having over 1,160 reservoirs holding approximately 55 km³ of water, a network of trunk canals (over 1 thousand km) and water pipelines (over 2 thousand km) – this won’t be enough for agriculture to develop fully.
© Volodymyr Demchuk, Kurkul.com, 2021.
