The UK Irrigation Association has called on the government to introduce a water strategy for agriculture, warning that farmers must receive a fair share of supplies if they are to feed the nation.
Although the UK is perceived to be a wet country, rainfall varies significantly from region to region – both seasonally and annually, said the UKIA. This means irrigation is vital to increase crop yields in some areas, it added.
In East Anglia alone, the agrifood industry contributes some £34 billion annually to UK Gross Valued Added (GVA), sustaining 150,000 jobs and providing some 18% of national farm gate output.
“There is significant potential for growth and opportunities for improving the rural economy,” says UKIA secretary Melvyn Kay. “But uncertainty over future water supplies has important consequences for irrigated agriculture.”
Irrigated farming faced an unprecedented threat from water scarecity, competition from other water users, and over abstraction and over-licensing in some catchments. There was also the challenge of over-regulation and climate change.
“This may act as a disincentive or constraint on future growth and investment. A strategy is needed to ensure irrigated agriculture receives a fair share of the nation’s water resources and uses it in a sustainable and efficient way.”
A strategy would be the next step towards recognising the importance of irrigation to sustaining the rural economy and the farmed landscape – as well as helping to feed the UK and countries further afield too.
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