PIM Reforms in Romania

Romania is a major agricultural country with some 10 million ha of arable land of which 3 million ha is irrigated under 105 large schemes (an average of nearly 30,000 ha/scheme). The climate is temperate with hot, dry summers and cold winters, and an average annual rainfall of 650 mm ranging from below 300 mm in some regions to more than 2000 mm in the high mountains. The design of major irrigation schemes typically consist of buried pipelines with hydrants used to connect field irrigation equipment. Some 88% of the total area was designed for sprinkler irrigation, almost 11% for furrow irrigation, and less than 1% for drip irrigation. These irrigation schemes are heavy energy consumers; water is usually lifted from the source to the farmlands at an average height of 85 m, requiring an average energy consumption of 750 kWh/1000 m3.

The layout of the irrigation schemes reflects the legacies of socialist land ownership and farming systems: 94 percent of land in the country used to be state-owned (as cooperatives and state farms) and six percent is owned privately. Both cooperatives and state farms were organized for farming large tracts of land, usually ranging from 2,500 to 7,000 ha, and even reaching up to 61,000 ha in a single state farm. Hence, the general pattern of on-farms works has been that small irrigation sectors (of 400 to 2,000 ha, with an average of 650 ha) were supplied by pressure pumping stations and were irrigated by rotation performed with manually mobile laterals (90%). Other sprinkler equipment were also present (e.g., rear hose, central pivots, and end fed laterals).

The political, economic, social and legal changes that occurred after 1990 introduced private land ownership and private choice for farming systems, leading to new forms of organization. Private land is now divided among small individual farms (60%), formal (27%) and informal (11%) private associations, and small commercial companies (2%). These farming systems compete with state farms which are still in place. There is also some private land which continues to be under state administration, and the owners are considered shareholders of state farms.

The irrigation infrastructure is fully state-owned and operated by a government agency which administers all land reclamation works (irrigation, drainage, soil conservation and erosion control, and flood control). The agency is almost fully subsidized from the national budget, but the amount allocated does not meet the operation and maintenance needs. Revenues from farmers cover less than 15% of the total irrigation costs, which are about US$150/ha.

Experiences in many countries have demonstrated that organizations of farmers can take over the responsibilities of managing and operating irrigation works with better results than can be achieved by government agencies. Such successful examples of participatory irrigation management were shown to farmers' representatives, government officials and irrigation consultants during study tours organized in 1997 in Turkey and Spain, as part of a World Bank-financed project preparation. The main conclusion drawn from these tours was that there is no viable alternative to farmers' participation in the management of irrigation schemes. The government officials learned that even a partial transfer of irrigation management functions to farmers can reduce budgeted expenses or transfer them to other land reclamation work.

Today the government is committed to strong reforms in the irrigation sector, and is promoting the concept of irrigation management transfer on a pilot basis. Along with this new policy is a new organization: a group of irrigation specialists have decided to set up a national chapter of INPIM, utilizing the momentum created during the preparation of the World Bank-financed project. We would also like to encourage farmers to join this organization, as they become aware of the benefits of irrigation services performed by users. We intend to get connected to the world of INPIM, and to contribute our experience based on Romania's specific conditions.

- Gabriel Ionita, World Bank, Romania

Gabriel Ionita
World Bank Resident Mission
Boulevard Dacia 83, Sector 2
Bucharest, Romania
Fax: (40-1) 210-2021
Gionita@worldbank.org