Italian Policy Framework for Water in Agriculture - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 341

Even if the economic investment has been considerable, the performance level of
some of these instruments has not been high, especially when a high priority from a
structural point of view was not supported by availability of financial resources. One
positive element is the prevalence of demand of structural renovating, that evidences the
tendency towards a more efficient use of water, in particular in the areas where irrigation
is characterised by obsolete networks and open sky ditches, producing a high water loss.
Nevertheless, programming choices privilege completing of the adduction and
distribution networks, especially in the areas where irrigation is not still completely
structured (the main worry is drainage), and irrigation systems are not efficient while
water requirements are high.
The National Water Plan of 2004 21 seems to have made a treasure of past
experiences. In fact, the plan involves the whole national territory, all water uses and all
central and regional institutions. It represents one of the most important challenges in the
next few years, because of the remarkable effort of coordination that has been done for its
definition. Although the financial resources programmed by Ministry of Agriculture
(EUR 1,1 billion), structural and financial requirements remain to satisfy; they'll be the
priorities for future programming.

Figure 2 - Programmed investments for irrigation in last 6 years in
relation to k ind of actions (INEA, 2005)

0,5%

16,3%

0,3%

renovating

31,5%

renovating and finishing

renovating and new

other

finishing

finishing and new

41,7%

6,9% New

0,2%

x

2,7%

It is important to specify that programmed investments funded by national resources
do not address farms. In fact they are orientated to efficiency improvement of public
networks, while programming for water management improvement and modernisation of
farm irrigation systems are financed by the operational programmes and the rural
development programmes of the EU. Regarding these programmes, the financial
resources (for the period 2000-06, almost EUR 750 million) have been used for
management improvement, irrigation methods modifications in order to reduce water
consumption, research and technical innovation.

21. Comitato Interministeriale per la Programmazione Economica 2005; Legge n. 350/03.