The systems tied to the North Crimean Canal are not yet ready to accept Dnieper water
The restoration of irrigation systems connected to the North Crimean Canal will require more than 10 billion rubles.
This was announced by the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Crimea Alime Zaredinova, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Over the 8 years without Dnieper water, the reclamation networks have fallen into disrepair, and farmers are unable to restore them without financial assistance from the state. Of the 160 thousand hectares of irrigated land after the resumption of work of the North Crimean Canal, only a quarter could be provided with water, even taking into account its free supply this year. Next year, farmers have already submitted 52 packages of applications for more than 1 billion rubles for partial reimbursement of expenses.
“It is planned that over the next three years more than 90 thousand hectares of reclamation lands will be restored,” said the deputy minister. – We must catch up and surpass the areas of irrigated land that existed before 2014. Organizations are already developing relevant projects in accordance with the first short-term stage, and we, for our part, will petition the government of the Russian Federation to agree on a program for restoring networks and irrigation.”
The artificial irrigation system built in the USSR was designed for 400 thousand hectares of fields and gardens and another 60 thousand hectares in reserve. However, in independent Ukraine, with the blessing of local authorities, reclamation pipes were dug up and sold for scrap, which led to a reduction in the irrigation area to 140-160 thousand hectares, depending on weather conditions.
The water blockade of Crimea, organized by the Kyiv regime, led to a reduction in irrigated land to 4,5 thousand hectares. Gradually, with the help of state support, farmers switched to irrigation using underground sources and modern, economical systems. The farms sold out the sprinkler machines needed to irrigate fields with grain crops. And when the water flowed through the canal again, not everyone was ready to take it into circulation.
The very condition of the North Crimean Canal even under Ukraine required investment injections. The last amount needed to modernize the artificial river was announced at 20 billion hryvnia, or 80 billion rubles at the 2013 exchange rate. It was not only the pipes of the reclamation systems that needed replacement, but components and assemblies that in the USSR did not take into account the future high cost of electricity.
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