Global Map of Irrigation Areas (GMIA)

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Irrigation by country

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New Zealand

Area equipped for irrigation at the territorial authority level was derived from the statistics of the agricultural census 2007 [NZ01]. Total area equipped for irrigation was 619 294 ha, of which 522 168 ha was located on the South Island 97 126 ha on the North Island. The irrigated area per territorial authority estimated that way is visible in the table below and also can be downloaded as New Zealand irrigation areas in PDF or New Zealand irrigation areas in Excel.

Area equipped for irrigation was assigned to areas derived from a local land use data set developed by the Ministry of Environment [NZ02] classified there as short-rotation cropland, vineyard, orchard and other perennial crops or high producing exotic grassland.

Area actually irrigated was not reported by the agricultural census 2007. Therefore area equipped for irrigation according to the 2007 census was multiplied for each territorial authority by the ratio between area actually irrigated and area equipped for irrigation reported by the agricultural census 2002 [NZ03] to estimate area actually irrigated in year 2007. This resulted in an estimated total area actually irrigated in year 2007 of 509 031 ha. Irrigation water use from surface and groundwater sources was available for regional councils [NZ04]. The percentage of equipped for irrigation with groundwater was assumed to be similar to the percentage of irrigation water use from groundwater reported for each region. Area equipped for irrigation with groundwater computed that way was 195 175 ha while area equipped for irrigation with surface water was 424 119 ha.

References

[NZ01]: Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry (MAF): Future Water Allocation Issues, 2001, available at: http://202.78.129.207/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource[NZ01]: Statistics New Zealand. 2009. 2007 Agricultural Census tables. Statistics New Zealand, http://stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/agriculture-horticulture-forestry/2007-agricultural-census-tables/land-treatments.aspx, 09/06/2009.
[NZ02]: Ministry for the Environment. 2009. The New Zealand Land Cover Database. Ministry for the Environment, Wellington, New Zealand, http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/land/land-cover-dbase/, 08/07/2009.
[NZ03]: Statistics New Zealand. 2004. 2002 Agricultural Census tables. Statistics New Zealand, http://stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/agriculture-horticulture-forestry/2002-agricultural-census-tables/land-treatments.aspx, 09/06/2009.
[NZ04]: Lincoln Environmental. 2000. Information on water allocation in New Zealand. Report No 4375/1, prepared for the Ministry for the Environment, Lincoln Environmental, http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/water/water-allocation-apr00.html, 24/08/2009.-use/ water-efficiency/future-water-allocation-issues/httoc.htm.