The modernization of irrigation, key to the future of agriculture

Minister Luis Planas considers it necessary to bet on new technologies, digitization and innovation as fundamental elements to guarantee the future viability of the rural environment.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has closed the XIX Technical Seminar of the National Federation of Irrigators’ Communities (Fenacore), where he stressed that the modernization of irrigation is a key issue for sustainability and the future of our farming. For this, the minister considers necessary to bet on new technologies, digitalization and innovation, as fundamental elements to ensure the future viability of the rural environment.

In his speech, Planas stressed that Spain is the first country in irrigated area of ​​the European Union, with more than 3.7 million hectares, which accounts for 22% of the cultivated area and 67% of plant production. About 53% of this area is irrigated, which places our country as a world leader in the implementation of this system.

The minister has insisted on the importance of irrigation for agriculture, since it allows increasing production and added value, which contributes to improving the quality of life of farmers and to fix the population in rural areas.

To continue the modernization of irrigation, the Ministry is committed to a territorial policy, balanced, sustainable and orderly, in the conviction that the future of the rural environment is to promote the triangle women and youth, innovation and digitalization, and sustainable irrigation.

Irrigation direction plan

In this area, the Ministry is working on the elaboration of a Master Irrigation Plan that will prioritize the actions to be carried out in the national territory based on objective criteria and that respond to a balanced and sustainable planning that generates greater economic and social cohesion.

In addition to the irrigation modernization works, Planas has detailed that the Ministry encourages the use of new technologies by irrigators, through initiatives such as the Agroclimatic Information System for Irrigation (SIAR) and the National Irrigation Technology Center (CENTER)

And in the European sphere, Spain defends that the Common Agricultural Policy is committed to modern and sustainable irrigation systems and water management.