We plan to increase the area of land that is irrigated in Hungarian agriculture, because only around 100 thousand hectares are currently watered by farmers, whereas permission has been granted to water 200 thousand hectares, Zsolt Feldman said on Monday at a press conference at the National Water Directorate.

The Ministry of Rural Development's Deputy State Secretary for Agricultural Economy mentioned this with regard to the fact that experts are currently assessing agricultural water requirements.

Mr. Feldman stressed that it is in the fundamental interest of Hungarian agriculture for farmers to have access to as much affordable water as possible, as this is a prerequisite for successfully increasing the yield of crop production in the upcoming years.

To achieve a stable production background water requirements must be assessed, as well as the cost of improving access to water and providing the required equipment, he said, adding that this information must be collected and analysed in the interests of efficiency, so that each development project serves actual needs and requirements.

The water management survey of irrigation requirements is being performed during March by experts from the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, the Chamber's president Imre Hubai said. Concrete requirement may be indicated by farmers on a special form.

Director General of the National Water Directorate Béla Molnár reminded the press that state-owned waterworks, equipment and facilities for watering and irrigation now fall within the scope of authority of the Ministry of Interior since the beginning of the year. This represents the operation, maintenance and development of 28 thousand kilometres of water channels.

The current task of the Directorate was to work together with the Ministry of Rural Development and the Chamber of Agriculture to discover how the area of irrigated farmland could be doubled. According to Mr. Molnár, the requirements for irrigation on the 100 thousand hectares of farmland for which watering permits have been issued but no irrigation occurs could be produced within 1-2 years.

He drew attention to the fact that 13.5 percent of farmland within the European Union is regularly watered, while the 200 thousand hectares of farmland that could in theory be currently watered in Hungary represents only 5 percent of the country's farmland.

The President of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture stressed that crop yields would increase by at least 20-30 percent and could increase by as much as 50-100 percent as a result of watering.

(MTI)