The hydro-agricultural megaproject would benefit producers in an area of more than three thousand hectares.
Due to the importance of the El Carrizo dam for the rural sector of the Southeast Region, the Jalisco Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER,) continues with the negotiations with the federation to secure resources for the implementation of the works to irrigate a surface area of 3,200 hectares in a demarcation of high agricultural productivity.
This was reported by the head of the office of the state secretariat, Salvador Álvarez García, who said that these efforts are of the utmost importance, considering that the investment for these works of the irrigation system of the reservoir represents an investment of more than one billion pesos, so that Jaliscans can take full advantage of a reservoir whose original construction ended in 2008.
In this regard, the director of Agrifood Innovation of the state agency, Martín Figueroa Morales, said that the steps have been carried out in two aspects. One is to maintain the validity of the project among the actions considered by the Ministry of Finance and Credit, which implies updating the concepts of cost and benefit. The other goes along with the above and involves ensuring that, as a project, it benefits from a multi-year budget scheme, given the amount of the investment.
He mentioned that by virtue of the procedures already carried out before federal authorities, particularly before the SHCP and the National Water Commission, the notification and the official key to identify the work of the dam among the current projects to be carried out is expected shortly.
At the moment there is a register with 1,135 members of the irrigation area. This figure could be modified because a cleaning of the registry is in process, since it has not been verified since 2008. Currently, sugarcane crops, which are the most plentiful in the area, as well as corn, beans, and watermelon, are irrigated with water drawn from wells.
It is considered that the contributions to assume the cost of the investment would be 70% from the federation, 20% from the state treasury, and 10% from the benefited producers. Subject to its authorization, the budget for the work in the irrigation area is in the order of 1.2 billion pesos.