Global Map of Irrigation Areas

Hungary

In Hungary the area equipped for irrigation reached its maximum in 1974 at 451 000 ha when the barrage at Kisköre and a dam in Békés were put into operation [HU01]. The area still equipped for irrigation is lower today but the statistics differ significantly dependent on the reference year and the source of information. The irrigable area of the country as reported by EUROSTAT or the Central Statistics Office was 308 110 ha in 2000 [HU02] and about 242 170 ha in 2003 [HU02], [HU03], while statistics of the National Water Authority indicate an area equipped for irrigation of 235 500 ha in 2000 and 208 400 ha in 2003 [HU01]. According to the latter statistics the area equipped for irrigation declined each year within the period 1998 (264 300 ha) to 2004 (159 100 ha). Differences also exist in the statistics referring to the area actually irrigated. EUROSTAT reported an area actually irrigated of 67 100 ha in 2000 and 148 690 ha in 2003 [HU02]. In contrast, the National Water Authority reported actual irrigation areas of 125 300 ha in 2000 and 115 200 ha in 2003 [HU01]. Because of the given uncertainties area equipped for irrigation was estimated for this study by selecting for each county the maximum of the areas reported as irrigable (Central Statistics Office, year 2003) or equipped for irrigation (National Water Authority, years 2001, 2002 and 2004). The total area equipped for irrigation estimated that way is summing up to 292 147 ha. Area equipped for irrigation per county is shown in the table below.

Polygons, showing the irrigation system of Hungary, were digitized from an irrigation map published in an atlas [HU04] and combined to polygons of cultivated land as extracted from the Corine 2000 land cover database for Europe [HU05] by using the priority levels below:

References

[HU01]: Ligetvári, F., Cselotei, L., Kiss, K., Dimény, J., Szilárd, G., Takács-György, K., Kis, S., Helyes, L., Pekár, F. & Bozán, C. 2006. Country report from Hungary. In: Dirksen, W. and Huppert, W. (ed.). Irrigation sector reform in Central and Eastern European countries. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany, 161-250.
[HU02]: 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.
[HU03]: Central Statistics Office. 2004. Agriculture in Hungary 2003, Vol. II – Farm structure survey, Tab. 6.6. Budapest, Hungary, 260 pp., available at: http://portal.ksh.hu/, 07/07/2006.
[HU04]: Hungarian Academy of Sciences & Ministry of Agriculture and Food. 1989. National Atlas of Hungary. Map on p. 208. Cartographia, Budapest, Hungary, 389 pp.
[HU05]: EEA. 2005. Corine land cover 2000 – vector by country (CLC2000), version 1. (available at: http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/dataservice/metadetails.asp?id=667).

Distribution of irrigated area in Hungary by County and Region: