Water for growth: why Russia needs to develop irrigation systems

With his recent decree, Russian President Vladimir Putin expanded the food security doctrine. The document now includes a section on "The strategic goal and main objectives of ensuring global food security." It talks about Russia's strategic goal of maintaining the stability of global food markets. To increase the export potential of the industry, it was instructed to develop domestic production of agricultural products, raw materials, food and fertilizers. The introduction of innovative technologies in the field of land reclamation and irrigation will help to achieve this. This includes polymer drip irrigation systems, which significantly improve the efficiency of agricultural production. This was discussed by the participants of the round table of the All-Russian Water Congress "Water in agriculture. Development of land reclamation systems". Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Food security needs new land reclamation technologies

Water, as you know, is life. The development of agriculture in Russia, one of the strategic sectors of our economy, is impossible without water resources. The key objectives of the federal program for the development of the land reclamation complex include the construction of new, reconstruction and overhaul of existing land reclamation systems. This should reduce the deterioration of reclamation systems in state ownership by 30% by 2030.

— The President has set a goal to increase the volume of agricultural exports by one and a half times by 2030. At the same time, the volume of agricultural production itself is increasing by only 25%," said Sergey Mitin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management at the round table of the All—Russian Water Congress. — On the one hand, we have uncountable water reserves (Russia ranks second in the world in this indicator), on the other hand, we have about the same figures for providing agricultural land.

He drew attention to the uneven distribution of water resources across Russia. Many regions are experiencing an acute shortage of water. According to Mitin, today the basins of the Azov and Caspian Seas, where about 80% of the country's population lives and the main agricultural potential is concentrated, account for only 8% of the total annual water consumption. The situation is aggravated by the acceleration of global warming, which is accompanied by abnormal weather events that lead to crop destruction.

Sergey Mitin noted that the land fund of Russia today is more than 1.7 billion hectares. At the same time, the area of agricultural land is about 380 million hectares, the area of farmland is 197 million hectares, and the area of arable land is 116 million hectares.

—We must understand that we have only 9.5 million hectares of reclaimed land, which is slightly more than 8%," he said and cited the experience of other countries.

For example, 54% of reclaimed land in China, 44% in Germany, 36% in India, 39% in the USA, and 24% in France. To change the situation, the Ministry of Agriculture has created a department of land reclamation. Since 2022, state programs for the effective involvement of agricultural land in the turnover have been implemented. But at the same time, the depreciation of the country's land reclamation systems is about 70%, the senator noted.

— It is due to irrigation that significant productivity gains are demonstrated. Fruits and berries show a two—fold increase in yield, fodder crops — by 1.7 times, soybeans — by 137%, potatoes and vegetables — by more than one and a half times, corn and grain — by more than 120%, wheat — by almost 2 times," said the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors. Maxim Borovoy, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

According to him, in order to increase production, the targets suggest almost doubling of irrigated land by 2030. This can be achieved with the help of modern technologies.

"We are paying increased attention to the implementation of technologies aimed at reducing certain losses," the deputy minister said. — In this regard, I would like to thank the representatives of SIBUR who regularly participate in our scientific and technical council. They offer us and advise us on solutions that are being developed. First of all, this concerns geosynthetic solutions and materials related to polymer pipes.

Scientists have calculated the effects on the industry from the application of innovations

Ruslan Khairullin, Director of SIBUR's Engineering and Road Infrastructure Division, presented at a round table the results of extensive research conducted by the Russian Research Institute for Land Reclamation (RosNIIPM) on the example of sections of the Don, Azov and Proletarian main canals.

— According to RosNIIPM, the use of geosynthetics in open channels reduces water losses hundreds of times by reducing filtration and provides additional water inflow to agricultural lands, — Ruslan Khairullin emphasized. — The effect of switching from an earthen channel to geosynthetic screens reduces filtration losses by 300 times. The bandwidth of the channel increases by up to 77%. The effect for the industry nationwide: savings of up to 2.2 billion m3 of water per year with 100% use of geosynthetic screens. All this leads to an increase in water supply and the involvement of agricultural land in the turnover.

Polymer solutions are more expensive than traditional ones at the initial stage. But on the horizon of the life cycle, the authors of the study state the opposite situation. The effects of reducing the number of canal repairs and saving water are many times higher than the cost of using geosynthetics. Payback is achieved 7-8 years after the construction of the canal. The use of new materials makes it possible to increase the service life of the canal up to 4-5 times in comparison with the earthen channel. The extended service life of geosynthetics will save the budget for the renovation and reconstruction of open channels in the medium term. The predicted service life of modern geosynthetics made of polymer geomembrane is estimated at 50 years, and the earthen bed is about 13 years. In 10-15 years, the active use of geosynthetic materials will significantly affect the reduction of the wear rate of reclamation systems.

The researchers also studied the effectiveness of using polymer pipes in comparison with traditional solutions in closed channels. The cost of construction here turned out to be lower, in part because of the diameter of the pipeline. At the same time, a polymer pipe that is not subject to corrosion lasts up to twice as long as metal pipes, which also provides additional savings, since you will have to change communications less often.

Addressing the participants of the round table, Ruslan Khairullin suggested scaling up advanced canal reconstruction technologies. Among the initiatives is the dissemination of the results of the research conducted by RosNIIPM to all meliovod farms in the country, as well as amendments to industry standards in order to consolidate the quality requirements for anti—filtration materials at the GOST level. Another important proposal is the development of a separate set of rules governing the use of modern geosynthetic and geocomposite materials in the construction and reconstruction of canals. If such a document is adopted, it can be recommended for use by both meliovod farms and design organizations, the speaker noted.

SIBUR's initiative was supported at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture. Deputy Minister Maxim Borovoy suggested discussing the results of the study within the framework of the Scientific and Technical Council under the Ministry and, together with industry experts, making a decision on possible adjustments to the regulatory framework.

Not a drop by

Andrey Chibisov, Director of the branch department "Agriculture and Ecology" of the Department of Industrial Development of Polyplastic Group, spoke about the effect of using polymer pipeline drip irrigation systems for growing vegetables. With this method, water is centrally supplied directly to the root zone of crops via a ribbon system. The advantages of using polymer technologies for micro—irrigation in growing vegetables are potatoes - 50-67%, vegetables — 50-1120%, sugar beet — 228%, corn — 40-200%, melons — 75-83%. Crop growth using drip irrigation against sprinkling in potatoes is 33% higher, vegetables — 50-140%, sugar beet — 10-17%, corn — 20-50%. Water consumption is 30-70% lower compared to sprinkling. Saving of land resources — 5-10%, saving of fertilizers — up to 50%. Drip irrigation allows you to water 100% of the field, which ensures product uniformity.

Legislation is still lagging behind the development of new technologies in land reclamation. The industry community will have to discuss the feasibility of developing codes of practice that would address the use of modern geosynthetic and geocomposite materials in the construction and reconstruction of canals, and much more. This is especially important given the widely discussed implementation of the life cycle cost assessment methodology for selecting the most efficient and durable pipe materials for the creation of irrigation channels and land reclamation pipelines.

Nevertheless, international experience shows that polymer drip irrigation systems can increase agricultural productivity. Given Russia's ambitious plans to increase agricultural production and exports, the introduction of modern land reclamation technologies is becoming particularly important.