Technical irrigation management: a program for development and strengthening in the Los Ríos region

With the goal of improving irrigation management in the context of climate change, the National Irrigation Commission and the Los Ríos Regional Government launched a program in Paillaco that will benefit more than 150 small farmers in the region through theoretical and practical training, project development, and water rights regularization.

With the aim of training farmers in the Los Ríos region, the National Irrigation Commission (CNR) and the Los Ríos Regional Government launched the program "Promotion and Strengthening of Technical Irrigation Management in the Los Ríos Region" with a ceremony held in the town of Paillaco.

Under a framework agreement between the Regional Government and the CNR, both entities officially celebrated the launch of the program by presenting irrigation bonuses and water rights to more than one hundred beneficiaries in the 12 municipalities that make up the Los Ríos region.

The event was attended by the regional governor Luis Cuvertino Gómez; Paillaco Mayor Cristián Navarrete; Agriculture Secretary Jorge Sánchez; and Regional Coordinator for the Los Ríos-Los Lagos Zonal CNR, Maximiliano Cifuentes.

The program is divided into three components, starting with component one, which involves working with farmers in the preparation of projects under the Irrigation Law, the second component is the training of 150 farmers in the area, and the third component is the regularization of water use rights.

Training is provided by the Technological Consortium of Water (COTH2O) with a team specialized in the subject. José Contreras, an agronomist engineer, presented the objective and the work to be done to the beneficiaries of the program.

The objective is to “train and transfer knowledge through a theoretical and practical model in the use of irrigation technology and its management to small farmers in the Los Ríos region”.

The training sessiones are structured around two main components: the first part is a theoretical and practical workshop with three modules focusing on the management of water use and quality in irrigation in a context of climate change.

The second component is practically oriented with technical demonstration tours focused on the identification of the elements of irrigation equipment, control, monitoring and maintenance of irrigation systems, mainly SCALL and ERNC systems, where about 150 farmers in the area study irrigation systems first hand.

"We expect the farmers to have a good catch, a good call, that they accept the invitation and apply the things we have been teaching them. They are quite technical things, but from a very didactic point of view and that they apply them in their irrigation systems", said José Contreras.

The program execution period is 12 months, with a start date of December 2024 and a finish date of December 2025.

José Contreras on the training workshop