Statistics offer us very interesting data every year. Data that may seem boring or useless and that, however, is the key to many advances. Those obtained in recent years in the sector have shown that Spanish agriculture is betting more and more on drip irrigation.
In 2016, Spanish agriculture used 14.949 cubic hectometers (hm3) of water for irrigation. A figure that turned out to be very similar to the one given in 2015, but with an important difference: drip and sprinkler irrigation techniques were used more in 2016 than in the previous year to the detriment of the traditional gravity irrigation method.
These data have been obtained from a study carried out through a Survey on the use of water in the agricultural sector (Euasa) and was published in the National Institute of Statistics. Data were also obtained from this study that placed Andalusia as the first autonomous community in irrigation water consumption and La Rioja as the region that reduced its volume the most in relation to 2015, taking into account that the study in question was carried out on the year 2016 and the data obtained were compared with those of the previous year.
According to the data collected, 39,4% of irrigation water, which represents 2,6% more than the previous year, was distributed through drip irrigation systems compared to 33,2% who did it through the gravity irrigation system and 27,4% who did it with sprinkler irrigation techniques.
Andalusia is the autonomous community that is recognized to use the greatest volume of water for irrigation through drip systems. Castilla y León is the community that uses sprinkler irrigation the most and, finally, it is Aragón that uses gravity irrigation the most.
Regarding the types of crops, those that most needed the water consumed were the herbaceous ones that include cereals, legumes, rice, corn and forage crops. Behind these are fruit, potato and vegetable crops, olive groves and vineyards.
It is also interesting to know that 75% of the total volume of water available for irrigation is of surface origin 1,9% being from desalination plants and treatment plants; and the remaining 23,1% of underground origin.
The autonomous community that uses the most water for irrigation, Andalusia, reduced its consumption during 2016 by 3,1%, while La Rioja did so by 25,6%. These figures are the most extreme and the ones that allow us to see that change is possible.
This change requires a committed initiative on the part of farmers and companies, accessibility to more efficient quality pieces and the change to irrigation techniques that allow a more adequate use of water depending on the characteristics of each land and crop.
Here in MUNDORIGO we have the best quality products, we have: accessories pe100, misting for irrigation, water pipes y irrigation material.
Leave your comment