Tolušić Opens the Kapinci-Vaška Irrigation System

Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić opened the Kapinci-Vaška irrigation system on Wednesday in the village of Vaška in the Virovitica-Podravina County, worth 80 million kuna, which will enable the irrigation of 1,260 hectares of land in the municipality of Sopje.

The construction of the Kapinci-Vaška irrigation system began in 2005, and due to a number of circumstances, the construction lasted more than 12 years.

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– The system has changed 5 county heads and 6 ministers of agriculture, which is certainly not a good story. If we want to have much more than 2 percent of the area under irrigation systems in Croatia, we must do everything to design them as quickly and as efficiently as possible and to find funds to finance them as soon as possible, said Minister Tomislav Tolušić.

The Kapinci-Vaška system, worth 80 million kuna, is financed 99 percent by Hrvatske vode, with the remainder from the Virovitica-Podravina County.

Irrigation allows for the extraction of nearly 900 liters of water per second from the Drava River. A 40-kilometer pipeline network has been built, along with about 300 hydrants, enabling agricultural producers to connect directly to the irrigation system under a pressure of 5 bars with their equipment, which will significantly reduce their costs.

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– This is a message that we will not relent in utilizing the abundant water potential from our large rivers for the irrigation of fertile fields. Given the evident climate changes, we wish to adapt to the newly created hydrological conditions, said Zoran Đuroković, General Director of Hrvatske vode.

Hrvatske vode is also preparing main projects for the expansion of the system for an additional 700 hectares.

– Farmers who wish to progress can now use the most modern production methods and achieve the best results. It is up to them to accept this challenge, but we still need the assistance of the Ministry and the county to maximize the efficiency of this system together, said the mayor of Sopje, Bersilav Androš.

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In May, the Virovitica-Podravina County signed two new contracts for the construction of the Novi Gradac – Detkovac and Đolta irrigation systems, with a total value of over 55 million kuna. In addition, work is underway on the Lukač irrigation system, as well as on the second phase of the Kapinci-Vaška irrigation system. Once all this is completed, Virovitica-Podravina County will be the Croatian leader in irrigation, with over 5,000 irrigated hectares.