Global Map of Irrigation Areas

France

The irrigable area of the country increased steadily from 2 099 700 ha in 1990 to 2 510 410 ha in 1995 and 2 723 700 ha in 2003. The area actually irrigated was lower but increased also from 1 484 840 ha in 1990 to 1 629 580 ha in 1995 and 1 938 730 ha in 2003 [FR01]. According to the agricultural census 2000 the main irrigated crops were maize (56% of the irrigated area), vegetables and potatoes (12% of irrigated area) and fruits and vines (9% of the irrigated area) [FR02]. Area equipped for irrigation was estimated by selecting the maximum of the irrigable area as reported by the EIDER data base by department for the years 1997, 2000 and 2003 [FR03]. For the year 2003 data were available for only 46 of the 96 departments which may lead to an underestimation of the area equipped for irrigation in the remaining 50 departments. Area equipped for irrigation by region and department estimated that way is summing up to 2 906 081 ha and is shown in the table below.

Area equipped for irrigation was distributed within the departments by combining cultivated areas as derived from the Corine 2000 land cover data base for Europe [FR04] and a map published in [FR02] showing the percentage of cultivated land that is irrigated by canton. It was assumed that the density of area equipped for irrigation within the departments is relative to the density of area actually irrigated computed that way. To assure that irrigation is mainly concentrated on arable land the following priority levels were used:

The irrigation map for France compiled that way was found to be in good agreement to irrigation maps published in the literature ([FR05], [FR06]).

References

[FR01]: Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT). 2006. Irrigation by regions. Online data base (available at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu), 07/07/2006.
[FR02]: Gleyses, G. & Rieu, T. 2004. L'irrigation en France. État des lieux 2000 et évolution. CEMAGREF, Antony, France, 60 pp.
[FR03]: Institut français de l’environnement (IFEN). 2005. Ensemble Intégré des Descripteurs de l'Environnement Régional (EIDER). CD-ROM, version 2005, IFEN, Orleans, France.
[FR04]: EEA. 2005. Corine land cover 2000 – vector by country (CLC2000), version 1. (available at: http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/dataservice/metadetails.asp?id=667).
[FR05]: Reparaz, A. 1993. Irrigation et agriculture irriguee dans les regions mediterraneennes francaises. Irrigation map (Figure 1) on p. 80, In H. Popp & K. Rother, eds. Die Bewässerungsgebiete im Mittelmeerraum, Passau, Germany, Passavia Universitätsverlag.
[FR06]: Roudié, P. 1985. La France – Agriculture, Forêt, Pêche. Second Edition. Irrigation map on p. 131, Paris, France, 197 pp.

Distribution of irrigated area in France by Department and Region: