Oficina Regional de la FAO para América Latina y el Caribe |

IRRIGATION IN SURINAME

Climate

Suriname has a tropical climate. The populated area in the north has four seasons: a minor rainy season from early December to early February, a minor dry season from early February to late April, a major rainy season from late April to mid-August and a major dry season from mid-August to early December. Daytime temperatures in Paramaribo range between 23 and 31°C, with an annual average temperature of 27° . The range in average temperatures between the warmest month, September, and the coldest, January, is only 2°C.
Rainfall is highest in the central and southeastern parts of the country. Annual rainfall averages 1 930 mm in the west and 2 400 mm in Paramaribo. The relative humidity is very high, from 70 to 90%.

Water Resources

Annual average rainfall in Suriname is 2 200 mm or 355 km3/year in the country's territory. It is considered that evapotranspiration and evaporation losses represent 49% of this precipitation. IRWR are about 88 km3/year. Suriname's major rivers flow northward into the Atlantic. The main characteristics of these rivers are detailed in the next table.

Major river basins of Suriname
River basin	Catchment Area (km²)^¹	Discharge at the outfall (km³/year)
Maroni	68 700	56
Commewijne-Cottica	6 600	4
Suriname	16 500	13
Saramacca	9 000	7
Coppername	21 700	6
Nickerie	10 100	6
Corantyne	67 600	50
TOTAL	200 200¹	142

¹ Also includes the catchment area outside the country

Water withdrawal

Water withdrawal in 1987 was 460 million m3, 6% in the domestic sector, 5% for industrial purposes and the remaining 89% for agriculture. Only surface water is used for agricultural purposes, while groundwater is used as drinking water because of its high quality and the relatively higher extraction cost.
In urban areas, approximately 95% of the population has access to running water (90% by house connections) and only some 3% of the population has sewerage connections. In rural areas about 70% of the population has running water in the house.
Typically, the sewage from individual houses in Paramaribo area is treated by septic tanks, causing problems of pollution during heavy rainfalls. A Master Plan for the expansion and structural improvement of the sewer system of Greater Paramaribo should be completed by 2001.

Lakes and dams

Lake Blommestein Meer, located on the Suriname River, is the biggest lake in the country. There is one hydroelectric dam in the Suriname River at Atobakka. In the past, there were plans to use part of this water for agricultural purposes.

Irrigation and drainage development

Virtually all economic developments of significance have taken place in the deltas (Suriname-Commewijne, Coppername-Saramacca and Corantijn-Nickerie). In the 17th century, Dutch settlers introduced practices for reclamation of tidal flood lands, converting large areas of the coastal plain into polders suitable for the establishment of plantations for the production of staple products such as cotton, cocoa, coffee and sugar. The design of water management systems that facilitated the economic utilisation of the tidal movements for agricultural production constituted a prime concern in the spatial layout of the polders, established in the form of rectangles 50 to 1 000 ha in size. In the course of the 17-18th centuries, about 1 000 polders of this type were built.
After the abolition of slavery in 1863, the human resources demand for plantation-production was met by labourers contracted in China, India and Indonesia, that were entitled to obtain small plots of farmland. The replacement of the liberated slaves by Asian labourers led to the introduction of rice cultivation into the economic production structure of Suriname.
By 1950 large-scale mechanised rice farming based on river diversion irrigation was introduced, with the execution of the Wageningen mechanized rice production development scheme in the District of Nickerie, subsequently followed by the gradual expansion of irrigated farmland on both sides of the Nickerie River to a total of approximately 50 000 ha by 1998. Currently, although the Government controls the largest farms and exports of rice, private farmers account for most of the harvest.
Irrigation is mainly applied in the production of rice and banana. The major irrigation technique is surface irrigation, while sprinkler is only used in part of the banana irrigated area. According to the most recent statistics, the irrigated land in 1998 for rice was 49 350 ha and 1 830 ha for the banana crop, 858 of which by sprinkler irrigation. A very small number of farmers use localised irrigation.

Trends in water resources management

In the 1994-1998 Government's Multi-annual Development Plan, the revitalisation of agriculture was emphasised through rehabilitation and modernisation of the agricultural sector, modernisation of agro-industries, improvement in traditional export production and expansion of non-traditional agro-cultural production. The policies focused on: (i) increasing and stimulating export oriented and import substitution activities; (ii) supporting agricultural activities in connection with sustainable measures against poverty; (iii) increasing of foreign exchange earnings; and (iv) implementing an investment programme for rehabilitation of physical infrastructure and most-needed logistics for a limited number of priority sectors.
In addition to the above, the 1996-2001 Agricultural Policy Document mentions certain policy measures, notably: removal of subsidies to agricultural parastatals, their privatisation, incentives for export and domestic food production and improvement of physical infrastructure. Specific policies are geared towards: (i) sustained palm oil production to develop spearrot disease resistant hybrids and expand production; (ii) increased efficiency of the rice sector and reactivation of rice research to compete in the world market; and (iii) improved competitiveness and productivity of banana production. Programmes to be implemented include, the improvement of statistical collection methods and irrigation and drainage. It is expected to increase the irrigated area by 16 000 ha in the period 1998-2010 and increase the area used for annual cropping by 30 000 ha.
For vegetables and fruit, it is also necessary to improve access to information and marketing skills, including better conditions for air freight.
The Multi-Purpose Corantijn Project in the district of Nickerie includes the construction of a 66 km irrigation canal to bring water to existing and projected new areas to produce an increased 12 500 ha of rice (paddy) and raise cropping intensity from 1.22 to 1.90. Vegetables, perennial fruit crops and pastures are mainly rainfed, although modern irrigation and drainage systems are needed to make production less dependent on rainfall.