All the water infrastructure construction sites of the National Rural Development Plan have started, and 62% are in the final stages.
As regards the water works of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, 75% of the works are underway and 27% have already completed half of the work.
The interventions for water infrastructure foreseen by the 2021 budget law see only 1% of the construction sites open, but the resources have only been made available since last May.
This is the assessment made by Anbi, the association of reclamation consortia, on the water projects financed by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The overall value of the planned interventions is over one billion and 104 million euros, and affects 478,004 hectares, of which 87% have been affected by drought and heat waves in the most recent five-year period.
The planned works will allow 31% water savings (548,710,121 cubic metres), i.e. a volume greater than that useful for Lake Garda, the largest Italian basin.
The projects under construction are 79% in areas with specialized crops (therefore, with greater profitability) and each project involves on average 3 products with designation of origin (DOP, IGP, DOCG, DOC).
The interventions will increase employment by almost 54,000 units, increasing agricultural value by over 96 million euros per year.
Particularly interesting is the transformation of 20,000 hectares from wheat to specialized crops (orchards, vegetables, etc.), thanks to irrigation: the value of Gross Salable Production skyrockets from 24 million to 300 million euros, increasing employment by almost 7,700 units .
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