Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2016 (96. évfolyam)
2016 / 3. szám - HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT - Ligetvári Ferenc: The power of irrigation
The power of irrigation Ferenc Ligetvári Retired university professor (E-mail: ferenc.ligetvari@gmail.com ) Motto „Only the state may be able to give an impetus to irrigation and being methodical is crucial in this work: the build-up of irrigation plants should not happen at random as it happened earlier in case of railway construction.” (Ferenc Kossuth) Abstract Irrigation served determinant development of Hungarian agriculture in the 1970s and 80s of the past century. Focused production and the Soviet market made the stabilization of the agriculture possible. The „admission” and utilization of Western technology contributed to all these. „Irrigated cropping in the Tisza Valley” development program - as of the end of 1960s - initiated by FAO enabled committed professionals to gain the advanced knowledge of the world. As a result of it our researchers and professors occupied more positions simultaneously in international professional organizations. Due to market loss and lack of organization the ownership change resulted in ceasing the operation of hundreds of acres of irrigation plants. Revival is less conceivable without the reformation of support and management conditions. Keywords Production development, economic growth, technical revival, compensation of knowledge loss, hydrology ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________35 INTRODUCTION Reading, listening and watching recommendations of international conferences one might conclude that the summary of conference thoughts include generalities everywhere. These axioms refer to basic human needs, however they are difficult to construe by us. Our ancestors settled down and stayed in the Carpathian Basin because they found here an environment rich in trees, fields and rivers. They had left the ancient regions (Ordos - plateau, Turan - plain) because of livelihood problems caused by climatic change and they found satisfying conditions here in the temperate zone. They did not formulate referendums but they acted. They did not declare what the 2nd World Water Forum conceived in The Hague in 2000 demonstrating the awareness of wealthy countries/nations: „Every human being, now and in the future, should have enough clean water for drinking and sanitation, and enough food and energy at reasonable cost. Providing adequate water to meet these basic needs must be done in an equitable manner that works in harmony with nature. For water is the basis for all living ecosystems and habitats and part of an immutable hydrological cycle that must be respected if the development of human activity and well-being is to be sustainable.” (World Water Council 2000). This paper intends to dicuss i) why irrigation is important for the Hungarian agriculture, ii) how irrigation issues were handled in the past century, and iii) what would be recommended to do to improve agricultural profitability and production security using irrigation, especially in the most drought exposed Tisza Valley region. THE EVOLVED RATIOS The growth of the human population resulted in permanent utilization of global water volume. Low reserve is available for achieving the set goals. With a little exaggeration we can say that the ratios are distributed almost to „molecules”. While we are striving for respect for human rights we are facing the utilization of the full capacity of continents. The developed world has already used up its reserves (Fig. 1 and 2). In regions with developing economy there is a minimum difference between the data of year 1990 and 2025. Figure 1. Total water withdrawal by regions [km3] (Source: Author’s estimate and www.impactwater.org ) (Source: Author’s estimate and www.impactwater.org ) Water resources available and used up annually is mostly suitable for the supply of current population. The difference would be totally utilizable for a more humane supply of people living in extreme poverty. But the inl 1995 ■ 2025 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 11 /b .£> & 4? r? J> J>° 9- <? <F Figure 2. Irrigation water usage by regions [km3]
