WWD, in Spain the debate is focused on water use

Now that the drought has taken a back seat, thanks to the intense last rains, the debate focuses on the use of water, especially in agriculture that consumes more than 70% of the resource.

Irrigatie landbouw

There is historical evidence of droughts in Spain for centuries. It is that the Iberian Peninsula climate is characterized by long periods of drought and (a few) episodes of torrential rains. To date, the drought has spread practically throughout the Peninsula, although, after the last rains, it is still especially only significant in the southeast, mainly the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Murcia.

Taking into account the aforementioned, it is necessary to implement a water policy in the short and long term for what, as a previous step, a great national agreement on water should be reached.

 For years, the successive ministers of Agriculture and Environment have been trying to reach such agreement at a national level, which is difficult to achieve because political (in a very decentralized country), economic and environmental interests must be compatible.

As regards the declarations arising as a result of the World Water Day, according to WWF, "more than 40% of Spanish rivers and wetlands are in poor condition and there are already almost 90 officially overexploited aquifers", advocating for a total change in water management in Spain.

For this, "it is essential to adapt water use to the resources actually available, renouncing to increase the irrigated acreage".

The association Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias pointed out that Spain has 3.47 million hectares of irrigated lands (20.4% of total agricultural area), accounting for 67% of total plant production and 59% of the national agricultural income.

The sectoral organization of irrigators, Fenacore, highlighted the importance of irrigation for the rural economy as it represents a greater and more stable employment of labor force, greater economic flows in marketing of products and inputs and, ultimately, a strong social stability in its areas of implantation.

On the contrary, the Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua considered that "the current system in resource use is above our possibilities". "We must change the indiscriminate policy of creating new irrigated lands".

Another vision was provided by Suez Agriculture, whose Director of Strategy and Business Development said that "agriculture is unfairly pointed out in times of drought, as it consumes more than 70% of water". However, "at this time, a better planning is what we need most in Spain" and "reflexing on how our water governance is", for which we need a better understanding among all parties involved in its management, we have to start seeing water as "a unique system".

Source: Efeagro.com