Energy for irrigations will be up to 30 pct cheaper in 2014, says Romanian official

Newsroom 11/12/2013 | 15:13

Romanian farmers will pay up to 30 percent less for the electric energy they use for irrigate farmland starting 2014, announced today Valentin Apostol, director at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), during a Mediafax event.

This will be possible because the National Land Improvement Agency (ANIF) will be able to buy energy directly from producers and act as a supplier (Ordinance 79/2013) starting 2014, said Apostol.

Following this, the price of a MWe could drop by as much as 30 percent which in turn will also lead to lower prices for water although this will drop at a lower rate, he explained.

He added that the MADR wants to upgrade the irrigation infrastructure for 800,000 hectares of land. Romania has negotiated so far with the EU for the rehabilitation of 220,000 ha for which Romania hopes to obtain EUR 225 million. Also, local organizations of water users will have access to EUR 325 million between 2014 and 2020 as part of the National Program for Rural Development. This is three times higher compared to the sums Romania has managed to absorb this year, added Apostol.

Before 1989 Romania’s irrigation infrastructure could serve 3 million ha. Today, only 1.5 million ha have access to irrigation infrastructure but out of this only about 600,000 – 700,000 ha are viable, said agriculture minister Daniel Constantin in a recent event.

Simona Bazavan

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