The Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food, Begoña García, visited today the irrigation modernization works carried out in the General Community of Regantes Nova Limia (Ourense), valued at 42,350,000 euros (VAT included), and highlighted that they will improve the lives of farmers in the region and their families.
“As we like it, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food does not come to lay first stones, but to visit works that are already in execution,” said the Secretary of State. Begoña García has insisted that irrigation modernization, digitalization and innovation are key elements in rural development and the best incentive for women and young people, and thus ensure generational change.
“We are scrupulously complying with what the Government of Spain has committed”, he assured, and added that the Government “complies and knows that this work has to be completed before July 2026, like all the works of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan”. “By the summer of 2026, the people of Limia have to be irrigating with a new irrigation, modernized, with remote control and with these renewable energies, ultimately with a better life. That is the work of the Government of Spain,” he said.
For his part, the government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, highlighted the government’s commitment to the region of A Limia and to Galicia, while highlighting the importance of collaboration between administrations. He also made special mention of the work carried out by the State Society of Agrarian Infrastructures (SEIASA) and that of the Secretary of State for Agriculture to respond to the demands of the Galician irrigators.
The improvement project for the irrigation use of the 42 catchments of the groundwater A Limia 2022 will modernize the irrigation systems of the irrigation communities of Lamas-Ganade, Alta Limia, Corno do Monte and San Salvador de Sabucedo and benefits 1,822 irrigators who cultivate 2,576 hectares in the municipalities of Xinzo de Limia, Trasmire, Sarreaus and Porqueira.
The objective of the action, which has an execution time of 24 months, is to replace the current irrigation systems with diesel pump motors and surface aluminum pipes, with modern pressurized irrigation networks fed by groundwater catchments and with remote control.
The new infrastructure will be equipped with pumping and filtering stations, hydrants, photovoltaic solar installations and regulation and storage elements, so that the farmer has a pressurized water intake close to his plot and integrated into an automation and remote control system.
“We are going to see irrigation like we have never seen in this country, in record time and with a record investment from the Government,” said the Secretary of State. The government is immersed in an ambitious irrigation modernization program, which foresees a total investment of more than 2.3 billion euros until 2027.
Water saving and digitization
The installation of buried pipes will improve the efficiency in the transport of the water pumped from the catchments to the plots, which will result in savings of up to 20% of the resources.
The implementation of renewable energies will avoid the current energy dependency on fossil fuels such as diesel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs. The automation and remote control system will make it possible to digitize irrigation management in an integral way.
This action is included in the irrigation efficiency and sustainability improvement program of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRT) and co-financed, therefore, with Next Generation funds from the European Union. The public contribution will be a maximum of 80% of the cost of eligible expenses, while the communities of irrigators will contribute the rest.