State and prospects of development of irrigation ystems of the republic of Armenia
The irrigation sector of Armenia suffers from the shortage of investments on the improvement of water and energy-effectiveness. The gap between the needs of farming and the powers of the irrigation systems of the country continues growing today, the loss of water in the irrigation canals exceeds 50 %. The necessity of the investments is stipulated by the consequences of the change of climate and the growth of water consumption, as farmers try to pass to the planting of more valuable cultures. The analysis of the state and prospects of the development of irrigation systems of Armenia is conducted and the necessity of the elaboration of a program on modernization of the development of irrigation systems of the Republic of Armenia has been substantiated in the article. The program on modernization and development of the irrigation systems of the Republic of Armenia foresees the replacement of the mechanical irrigation with the gravity flow stations, the restoration of trunk pipelines and the canals of the second category, the modernization of in-house distribution networks, the development of institutional possibilities of the Water Users Association. The implementation of the projects and programs on the development of irrigation systems in Armenia will allow to increase the security of functioning of the water economy entities, to increase the profitability and stability of the irrigated farming, as well as to decrease the volume of grants allocated to water users from the state budget.