TRANSFORMATION OF IRRIGATED LANDS IN REGIONS OF RUSSIA IN THE POST-SOVIET PERIOD
A.P. Demin
Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: ameliorative condition of irrigated lands, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, irrigated land productivity, technical condition of irrigation systems, area of actually irrigated land, drip irrigation
Abstract
The transformation of irrigated lands in the regions of Russia over a long period of time has been studied. It was found that from 1990 to 2018 the area of irrigated land in the country decreased from 6.2 to 4.7 million hectares. In some constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the land area decreased by a factor of 4-14, and in two of them it increased by 35-40 %. It was found that 735 thousand hectares of irrigated land (16 %) were not used in agricultural production in 2018, largely due to soil salinization and waterlogging, with only 3.7 % corresponding to the year 1990. It is concluded that it is necessary to quickly bring into production the unused irrigated lands in order to enhance food security and increase exports of food and agricultural raw materials. The transformation of the structure of irrigated agricultural land in Russia as a whole is less perceptible, whereas in some regions it is conspicuous. There is a need to increase the share of forage crops in irrigated crop rotations to improve soil fertility, and increase the production of forage and livestock products. It is shown that in recent decades in Russia there has been a steady trend in deterioration in the reclamation state of irrigated lands. A particularly unfavorable situation has developed in the Northwestern District. The area in which capital improvements are required to increase the technical level of irrigation systems has increased dramatically. The area of actually irrigated land progressively decreased from 4.9 million hectares in 1990 to 1.4 million hectares in 2016. On the other hand, drip irrigation systems are rapidly developing, which have shown high efficiency. It has been established that it is necessary to develop more widely the production of drip irrigation systems at domestic and joint ventures in Russian regions. Data on the beginning of the revival of the production of domestic sprinkling equipment, which is not inferior to foreign counterparts and is much cheaper, are presented.
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