Project of restoring irrigation in the south of Ukraine
Kherson, Odesa and Mykolayiv regions will work on the implementation of a pilot project to restore irrigation in southern Ukraine, says official website of Kherson Regional State Administration. The memorandum of cooperation was signed during a working meeting of heads of regional administrations of Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson. The signed document envisages, in particular, creation of a powerful water management and reclamation complex in the south of Ukraine; modernization of existing and construction of new irrigation systems.
Head of Kherson Regional State Administration Serhiy Kozyr expects that implementation of joint projects will become the basis for development of irrigation in the south of Ukraine," commented the signed memorandum.
He also stressed that development of irrigation is an extremely important issue for Ukraine because it is about food security. Kozyr stressed that development of the irrigation system is vital for Kherson region. After all, irrigation can make it possible to transform the zone of risky agriculture into a territory of increasing yields. Irrigation in Kherson region covered only 320 thousand hectares. This is not enough, and therefore the priority is to restore irrigation networks to a design capacity of 427.1 thousand hectares and expand it to 600 thousand hectares by 2030.
Currently, the region is implementing a regional pilot project of creating an investment park "Restoration of irrigation in the Kherson region", which provides for the reconstruction of irrigation systems on an area of 63.6 thousand hectares on the platform of the Investment Park of 7 local communities.
Also, within the framework of the program “Magnets of Ukraine”, 9 regional projects on development and restoration of irrigation networks were submitted to the Office of the President. The USAID-AGRO project has been active in the region and will provide a grant for the establishment of the Organization of Water Users in the Kherson region and support restoration and modernization of irrigation networks. It is planned to restore existing irrigation systems and construct new ones by attracting funds from investors and farmers in the Development Strategy of Kherson region for the period 2021 - 2027. Kherson region initiated development of a draft law on the "Organization of Water Users", which will provide for efficient use of irrigated land.