The Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (Midagri) announced on March 22 new measures to strengthen sustainable water management across the country. The ministry is implementing actions through its agencies, programs, and executing units aimed at supporting river basins nationwide.
This initiative focuses on hydraulic infrastructure, modern irrigation systems, and nature-based solutions such as qochas. These efforts are designed to improve water availability, optimize its use, and support agricultural activities.
Midagri’s Directorate General of Hydraulic Infrastructure and Irrigation is coordinating with various entities on five major irrigation projects: Chavimochic III in La Libertad, Majes Siguas in Arequipa, Chinecas in Áncash, Chonta in Cajamarca, and Iruro spanning Ayacucho and Arequipa. These projects are expected to increase water storage capacity, expand farmland areas, boost production and export of agricultural products, generate energy resources, stimulate local economies, and benefit thousands of families.
As part of a broader strategy for water harvesting and conservation led by the Sierra Azul Fund, more than 2,600 dams for qochas have been built with an investment exceeding S/ 444 million. This work has benefited over 72,000 families by increasing groundwater recharge by more than 90 million cubic meters across 17 regions. Additional interventions include constructing infiltration ditches stretching over 1,800 kilometers as well as reforestation efforts covering more than 2,000 hectares with native species.
To further optimize resource use efficiency in agriculture sector operations throughout Peru’s regions—19 in total—the ministry promotes modern irrigation methods via PSI. While traditional gravity-fed irrigation achieves efficiencies between 30%–40%, sprinkler systems reach up to 75% efficiency while drip systems achieve up to 95%. Agro Rural completed four works in Cusco, La Libertad,and Tumbes during the previous year that now irrigate over 1,500 hectares for the benefit of nearly eight hundred families; additional recovery work is ongoing along the Huancabamba River basin including planting over one million seedlings.
For oversight purposes,the Water Observatory holds more than four hundred million data points with ten million accesses recorded so far.National Water Authority granted more than fifteen hundred new usage rights this year,in addition to fourteen thousand six hundred last year,to help regulate resources.In terms of risk prevention,the ministry is intervening at twenty-seven critical points across six regions using heavy machinery along eighteen kilometers of rivers.This protects forty-six thousand five hundred people as well as almost ten thousand hectares under cultivation.The ministry said it remains committed “to promoting comprehensive,sustainable management of water resources as a key factor for agricultural development.”
