Shock Plan: Background
Irrigated farming in Spain only accounts for around 13% of the Useful Agrarian
Surface Area. However, 50% of the final agrarian production is obtained from this
type of farming. The gross production value per hectare of irrigation is equivalent
on average to just over six times that of dry farming, and in some areas, it can be
up to 20 times more. These figures show the importance, in both absolute and
relative terms, of irrigated farming methods in Spain. Yet we must not lose
sight of the demands and sensitivity of the agrarian sector with respect to water
consumption in achieving this yield and high production rate.
On the other hand, we are faced with an especially serious situation with
regard to the availability of water resources which has been aggravated by
the scarce rainfall of the past months. The hydrological year 2004-2005 was the
driest year since the existence of systematised information on rainfall in Spain.
Furthermore, the first four months of the hydrological year 2005 - 2006 show that
the drought that affects over 80% of Spain continues to exist, leading to Spain's
water reserves for the middle of January 2006 stand at 14,340 Hm3. This situation
represents a reduction of almost twenty decimal points in available water resources
on the average for the last ten years, which gives us an idea of just how serious
the situation is, and its potential repercussion on the agrarian sector.
Although the spring rainfall may slightly improve matters, modifying the negative
trend of the past few months, it is virtually impossible that they will be sufficient
to recover the accumulated deficit, and prevent serious shortages from taking place
during this hydrological year that will make it impossible to carry out the irrigation
campaigns. Even if the tendency to reduce the quantities of water provided with
respect to the historic minimum of the 2004-2005 irrigation campaign, it will be
difficult to prevent the problems in supplying domestic water to some cities and
towns.
All these factors (the important role of the irrigated farming sector in the final agrarian production rate and the drought that exists at the present time) has led the Ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Environment to join forces in an effort to achieve important water savings and ensure a more effective use of this element (by modernising irrigation facilities that have less hydrological efficacy) to guarantee agrarian production and minimise the effects of the drought.
