REHABILITATION AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE IRRIGATION SECTOR IN ROMANIA

Irrigation is the main measure to combat the effects of drought on cultivated plants. Natural phenomena that generate natural disasters are excessive drought persisting over time affecting non-irrigated land, climatic and market conditions require producers to invest more and more in irrigation systems, which would allow them to increase the quality, but also the quantity ofproduction. That would make them more competitive. Agriculture is facing risks that have lately gained a different intensity than in previous years. In our country, the disasters caused to agriculture by drought are known, this year being the country most affected by drought, with a minus of 14.5%, given that the entire Europe lost 12% of the total quantity produced according tothe European Commission.The current situation of the irrigation system faces numerous and difficult problems, being in an advanced stage of degradation, and in much of the surface of these facilities, irrigation is not functional, and functional irrigations are inefficient in terms of water and energy consumption, being expensive for farmers. Farmers should be encouraged to contribute to the rehabilitation of keyirrigation infrastructure. The implementation of irrigation systems within the agricultural territory is carried out based on preliminary climatic, hydric, hydrogeological, pedological, topographical, geotechnical, and agroeconomic studies. These studies aim to highlight the agricultural territories where it is necessary to fill the water deficit, to indicate the sources of water that can be captured, the territorial configuration of the irrigation system, its functioning regime, investment costs, andforms of its recovery.