About hundred farmers from the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine - Kherson, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk regions - as well as scientists, experts, MPs and local authorities gathered at a round table organized by Ukrainian Agri Council to discuss irrigation development strategy in Ukraine. The event took place in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region.

Andrii Dykun, the UAC Chairman, emphasized that a national irrigation program should be developed and the state should support agriculture in this way.

"In the context of climate change, the issue of irrigation development in Ukraine is extremely acute and the situation in Odessa region, where a third of this year's crop were lost, has clearly demonstrated this. We believe that in this regard, the state should support agriculture because by investing once, the state continues to make a profit for many years. Therefore, it is worth thinking about how to protect existing investors, how to create conditions so that farmers are not afraid to invest in irrigation." - the Chairman of UAC said.

Mykhailo Romashchenko, director of the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, predicted a further increase in the average annual temperature and, as a result, a change in the climate in Ukraine to a drier one, to a severe moisture deficit.

"The moisture deficit in 2050 will be 550-570 mm, in 2100 - 700 mm. In fact, it is a desert. In 2100, up to 60% of Ukraine's territory will have a severe water balance deficit for agriculture. Under such conditions, the only factor in ensuring the sustainability of agricultural production, especially in the South, is irrigation" - the scientist said.

At the same time, irrigation systems in Ukraine are in a catastrophic state: of the 2,17 million hectares of irrigated land that Ukraine had at the beginning of independence, irrigation systems now operate on about 500,000 hectares. So, as the participant of UAC Oleksandr Klepach told us, the area of ​​the irrigated lands in the Mykolaiv region is 93 thousand hectares, however, actually only 3,5 thousand hectares are irrigated. Oleg Kaliman, a UAC participant from Zaporizhia region, noted that the situation with land reclamation in their region is also catastrophic. If earlier about 220 thousand hectares were irrigated, today 60 thousand hectares are officially under irrigation, and in fact irrigation systems work only on 20 thousand hectares. Alla Stoianova, a member of the board of UAC from Odessa region, noted that out of 382 thousand hectares lost this year due to the winter drought in Ukraine, 300 thousand hectares are losses in Odessa region. There are 2 million hectares of agriculture land in the region, of which 260 thousand are irrigated lands, but 40 thousand hectares are actually irrigated. Alla Stoianova stressed that if there are no changes, the region's agriculture will simply cease to exist.

Farmers are ready to invest in the development of irrigation system, because it increases yields by at least 1.5-2 times. Moreover, some of them are already doing so today; however, they face a number of obstacles and difficulties. The enterprise of Volodymyr Khvostov, a member of the UAC board from Kherson region, “Agroproduct, LTD” built irrigation systems with a pumping station on the area of ​​956 ha, but failed to get the land plot for the pumping station, so it is on water.

"Another problem is the connection to the grid. The requirements are designed so that you can never implement them. In addition, of course, the biggest issue is the size of the investment. The total amount of construction and materials is about 46 million UAH, which is about 48,000 UAH per 1 hectare. That is, for 2 thousand dollars you will receive 1 hectare of turnkey basis irrigation” - a member of the board of UAH said.

A separate issue is how to lay pipes for the irrigation system through land owned by different owners, because not everyone will agree. Serhii Malovyk, a member of UAC from the Dnipropetrovsk region, faced such a problem. Therefore, the agrarian notes, today it is necessary for agricultural producers and for the development of the irrigation system as a whole that the law on land consolidation should work as soon as possible.

In addition to all of the above, extremely high problems for farmers are high water tariffs for irrigation, which, moreover, is unknown how they are formed. Serhii Rybalko, a member of the board of UAC from Kherson region, emphasized this, noting that the water tariff has increased 3,5 times over the last four years, only in 2019 it was raised by 30%. In addition, the tariff includes non-existent services - monitoring the condition of irrigated lands and consultations, which result in millions of payments for farmers. Another problem is energy service companies, which install energy-saving equipment at pumping stations at inflated prices, and agrarians, need to pay outgoes.

The draft law on water users’ association (WUA), which is currently being worked out and discussed, is intended to address these issues. In particular, the bill provides for the establishment of a water users’ association (WUA) - a non-profit organization whose purpose is to ensure the operation and maintenance of the reclamation system and to provide water users with water for irrigation.

Mykhailo Sokolov, the Deputy Chairman of UAC, spoke about the key provisions and debatable issues of the bill. Thus, it is necessary to determine the method of transferring the objects of the reclamation system to organizations. This can be a transfer of ownership, trust ownership or preferential lease. It should also be decided whether to enable businesses to build new reclamation systems and privatize existing ones. In addition, it is necessary to determine the mechanism for fixing the ownership of reclamation pipelines.

Oleksii Kuzmenkov, the first Deputy Head of the State Water Agency, who was also present at the event, said he supported the establishment of WUA as an association that would take on the responsibility of attracting investment. The official also noted that within two months the State Water Agency will present a comprehensive plan for the implementation of irrigation and drainage until 2030.

Kherson region as a zone of risky agriculture is interested in developing an effective mechanism for restoration and further development of irrigation. This issue was emphasized by Dmytro Butrii, the First Deputy Head of the Kherson Regional State Administration.

"For us, the issue of irrigation is a matter of high yields, financial and economic stability of the southern regions and our state, a guarantee of its food safety. I hope that today's discussion will become the basis for the adoption of legislative acts that will promote the development of the reclamation system in the south of Ukraine.” - Dmytro Butrii mentioned.

People’s Deputies also attended the event: Ihor Palytsia, Oleksandr Kovalchuk, Ihor Kolykhaev, Ivan Chaikivskyi. The people's deputies assured that they had heard the problems of agrarians about fields’ irrigation and would contribute to their solution at the legislative level during the next session of the Verkhovna Rada.