Today, at the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy the promotion of the project “Small, low-cost, environmentally friendly irrigation systems: site selection and preparation of complete tender documentation” took place.
At the event, about 70 guests were addressed by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Mr. Ljupco Nikolovski, and the Head of the EU Delegation to Skopje, Ms. Virve Vimpari. The project was presented by Tatjana Todoroska, Project Director, as a representative of the implementing consortium of the project, Eptisa – Point Pro – Temelsu.
“The situation with irrigation systems is not satisfactory. In some regions the irrigation systems are dysfunctional and ruined which requires urgent rehabilitation and construction of new ones”, stressed Minister Nikolovski.
The EU representative pointed out that, according to the World Bank, agriculture is one of the sectors sensitive to climate change and that agricultural policies must be harmonized with these changes in order to protect agriculture and livestock from risks. “It is expected that because of the drought, all agricultural regions will be affected, which would mean huge losses for farmers. One of the measures is to provide access to irrigation in the agricultural areas most affected by climate change” said Ms. Vimpari.
As part of the project, it is planned to develop project documentation for irrigation systems for which 1.7 million EUR has been provided, and construction will be carried out with funds already provided under the European IPA Program.
The National Program for Agriculture and Rural Development plans to increase the potential for irrigation to 250,000 hectares over the next 15 to 20 years. This will be achieved through the rehabilitation of the existing and the construction of new irrigation systems.
