The performance of the Compact irrigation sector reform activities in 2012 and the priorities for 2013 were addressed at the Annual Conference of the Water Users Associations (WUA) yesterday, February 15.
The conference was attended by the representatives of 11 Water Users Associations established in the areas of the irrigation systems to be rehabilitated with Compact funds, the representatives of the central and local governments engaged in the reformation of the irrigation sector, NGOs and mass media.
The participants learned about the actions taken to build the capacities of WUAs and improve the administrative and legislative framework required for their efficient operation. 11 WUAs were established in 2012 in compliance with the Law no.171 on the Water Users Associations. Their members are over 6700 agricultural producers who work about 15.5 thousand hectares of farmland in the areas of the Central Irrigation Systems. Also in 2012 the members and the management and executive bodies of WUAs (Administration Boards, executive directors, accountants and operators) received a lot of training meant to build the institutional and managerial skills required following the transfer of the management of the irrigation systems from the technological stations of the State Agency “Apele Moldovei” to WUAs. The WUA members also received training in specific areas such as bookkeeping and management, irrigation management, technical operation of the irrigation systems, and got familiar with the reformation experiences of Portugal and Poland.
In order to make sure the WUAs are operational, seven WUAs (Agro Rufeni – SCI Lopatna, Jorile – SCI Jora de Jos, Agroacvila – SCI Roscani, Acva Grup – SCI Puhaceni, Pruteni II – SCI Grozesti, Criuleni – SCI Criuleni și Cosnita – SCI Cosnita) have already been provided with furniture and equipment and relevant accounting software.
In her address, Valentina Badrajan, the Executive Director of MCA Moldova, said that the Moldovan agriculture will be competitive on the Eastern and Western markets provided that the agricultural producers will associate.
Another priority of the irrigation sector reform is to improve the river basin management, which aims at improving the water management through efficient monitoring of water quantity and quality, implementation of a new guidebook on the identification, delimitation and classification of the surface and underground water bodies that will be carried out for the first time in Moldova. There were other activities as well, such as development of the regulatory framework required for the enforcement of the Water Law, Regulation of the one-stop shop for the authorization of the water special use and Common Platform for river basin management and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
The irrigation sector reform is one of the activities of the Transition to High Value Agriculture project of the Compact Program implemented in the period of 2010 – 2015 by the Millennium Challenge Account Moldova. The reform is implemented by Euroconsult Mott MacDonald in association with the National Agency for Rural Development ACSA. The Irrigation Sector Reform Activity provides for the establishment of the Water Users Associations, transfer of the management of the central irrigation systems to the WUAs and development of the capacities of the public authorities for efficient management of the limited water resources given the increasing demand for water and the impact of the climate change.
