Global Map of Irrigation Areas

Georgia

In the Soviet period, infrastructure was built to irrigate 469 000 ha of agricultural land, mainly located in the more arid east of the country [GE01]. In the 1990s, civil strife, war, vandalism and theft, as well as problems associated with land reform, the transition to a market economy, and the loss of markets with traditional trading partners, contributed to a significant reduction in the irrigated area. It has been reported that only about 160 000 ha were irrigated during the severe drought in 2000. Almost all pumping schemes (about 143 000 ha) were out of order. Therefore, a rehabilitation programme was started by Georgia's State Department of Amelioration and Water Economy to renew the infrastructure of existing irrigation and drainage schemes and to establish amelioration service cooperatives. About 255 000 ha are covered by this programme [GE02]. Based on these reports, the area equipped for irrigation was reduced to 300 000 ha. Irrigation statistics in subnational units were not available.

The irrigated areas were digitized from an irrigation map published in a recent project report [GE02] and from a map showing irrigated areas in the Caucasus region [GE03]. The boundaries of the digitized areas were adjusted using Landsat satellite imagery [GE04].

References

[GE01]: FAO. 1997. Irrigation in the countries of the former Soviet Union in Figures, p. 102. Rome.
[GE02]: World Bank. 2001. Irrigation and drainage community development project. Project appraisal document. Report No. 22042-GE (available at http://www.worldbank.org).
[GE03]: Achtnich, W. 1980. Bewässerungslandbau, p. 36. Stuttgart, Germany, Ulmer.
[GE04]: Earth Satellite Corporation. 2004. Landsat GeoCover (2000/ETM+) Edition Mosaics, tiles 071-289 and 071-301. Sioux Falls, USA, USGS (available at http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080).