Water scarcity hits EU farm sector

DROUGHTS and water scarcity in the EU are becoming more serious, according to Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.

“Agriculture is thirsty. Of the total water we abstract from river basins in the EU, farming takes about 60%.

“And of every cubic metre used for irrigation, on average 80% either is absorbed by crops or evaporates.”

Ms Fischer Boel said between 1976 and 2006, the number of areas and people affected by droughts went up by almost 20%. Water scarcity has affected at least 11% of the EU’s population and 17% of its territory at some point.

Ms Fischer Boel said farming is subject to a growing body of regulation on water.

“We cannot take the risk of regulating farming out of existence.

“If we want a strong farm sector that uses water efficiently to give us valuable products and care for our landscapes, we must give farmers active support to change their methods,” she said.

Ms Fischer Boel said rural development is the only serious policy option for providing this support. However, its budget has already been allocated until 2013.

This leaves extra modulation — a system which transfers money out of direct payments to farmers and into the budget for EU rural development policy — as the only way of putting fresh money on the table.