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Tuesday, 16 December 2008 The Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia (RGA) today announced that farmers across the Murrumbidgee and Murray Valleys would return 6.3 gigalitres of water to the Murray River within the next seven months. President, Les Gordon, said the Murray Darling Basin Commission and the NSW Government had allocated the industry's groundbreaking On Farm Water Efficiency Project further funding for on-farm improvement works designed to allow farmers to do more with less water. The water savings will be returned to the Murray River as environmental flows by 30 June next year. "In a time of unrelenting drought, this program is the first and only industry-led initiative of its kind designed to help secure food supply in regional Australia, while helping to restore one of our most important river systems," he said. "We returned 1.2 gigalitres of water to the environment in the program's Round 1 pilot project, and the 6.3 gigalitres to be returned within the next seven months will assist further in delivering environmental flows to the Living Murray icon sites, including our red gum forests and internationally significant wetlands." Mr Gordon said that while the On Farm Water Efficiency Project was developed by the RGA, it involves all irrigators, including rice growers, graziers and horticulturists. He said interest had been overwhelming, with the RGA originally receiving 136 projects that met Government requirements with the ability to return 19 gigalitres of water to the environment. The MDBC has approved funding for 45 of the projects, freeing up 6.3 gigalitres of water. The RGA are very grateful that the NSW Government and MDBC have jointly funded these projects. "These are critical times for both the environment and our nation. Our food supply is at risk and the strong interest in our program demonstrates the commitment within the agricultural community to not only proactively manage our water resources, but to finding new ways to do more with less," said Mr Gordon "Some farmers have gone ahead and made water efficiency improvements themselves in an effort to respond to the changing environment, but the drought has left the vast majority without the capital to do this. We recognize the government is in the market for water, and our program provides a way of securing the future of agriculture and food production in Australia, and meeting the government's water targets. "While we are disappointed that we did not receive funding for the full Round 2 project to enable farmers to return the full 19 gigalitres to the Murray and Murrumbidgee, we will continue to seek other sources of funding for the balance of the projects." Mr Gordon said Australian rice growers were already the most water-efficient rice producers in the world. The funding allocated to the On Farm Water Efficiency Project will be spent on further improvement works on 45 farm projects, such as piping open channels for stock water; implementing water recycling systems on farm; converting flood irrigation to over head sprays or high tech drip horticulture; and changing irrigation layouts to high flow, fully lasered bankless channels. Under The Living Murray, 500GL of environmental water has been flagged for return to the Murray River by 30 June 2009. The total contribution of 7.5GL (across 2007 – 2009) which will be returned through the RGA’s On Farm Water Efficiency projects represents the only industry led project of its kind. This approach demonstrates a sound model for future joint investment by irrigators and Government to secure water for the environment. CONTACT |
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