Of the 3.71 million hectares under irrigation, 80.57% have localised, self-propelled or sprinkler irrigation systems.
At the end of 2023, 80.57% of the irrigated agricultural area in Spain had efficient irrigation systems, either localised (57.63%), self-propelled (8.21%) or sprinkler (14.73%). Year after year, these three systems have been gaining ground over traditional gravity irrigation (19.44%). The irrigated area – 3,713,936 hectares – represents around 23% of the total cultivated land in Spain but generates 65% of the value of total plant production. These data are included in the analysis of irrigated land in Spain in the Survey on Crop Areas and Yields (ESYRCE) 2023.
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The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has noted a further increase in efficient irrigation in the Spanish countryside
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food considers the modernisation and sustainability of irrigation systems in Spanish agriculture to be essential to achieve an appropriate and efficient use of every drop of water, due to the evident effects of climate change, with more scarce and irregular rainfall, more extreme climatic adversities and more frequent and intense droughts. The government has promoted the most ambitious irrigation modernisation plan in recent history, which will mobilise public-private investment of more than 2.4 billion euros between 2022 and 2027.
In 2023, the irrigated area in Spain decreased by 1.52% as a result of the drought in the 2022-2023 hydrological year. One year earlier, in 2022, the percentage of efficient irrigation was 78.96%.
Since 2022, olive groves have been the crop with the largest irrigated area (874,564 ha, 31.37% of its total area), most of it localised, followed by cereals (761,565 ha, 20.51% of the total), non-citrus fruit trees (449,155 ha, 12.09% of the total) and vineyards (399,080 ha, 10.75% of the total).
The area under cultivation remains stable
The area under cultivation in Spain remained stable last year, with a total of 16,783,025 hectares, just 0.28% less than the previous year, according to the final data from Esyrce 2023. Of this total area, 11,197,349 hectares correspond to arable land, 5,400,047 hectares to woody crops and 185,629 hectares to other arable land.
Arable land. Fallow cropland shows a slight increase (6.91%) as a whole, while arable crops have decreased their area by 3.11% concerning 2022 due to the decrease in cereals, tubers and industrial crops, fundamentally.
The decrease of 14% in the area under industrial crops is particularly noteworthy, mainly due to a decrease in the area under cotton (-21.35%), sunflower (-16.21%) and rapeseed (-15.62%). At the same time, aromatic plants, sugar beet and industrial tomatoes together increased their cultivated area by more than 13,000 hectares.
The grain legumes group is the only one in this category to increase its area, by 50% compared to 2022. Peas (+55.85%), vetch (+101.50%), chickpeas (+93.01%) and vetch are the crops responsible for this increase. In the group of cereals in general, there is an overall decrease of 4 % compared to 2022, dragged down by the sharp decline in crops such as common wheat (-5.85 %), maize (-19.71 %), durum wheat (-12.26 %), and the two varieties of barley.
In the group of fodder plants, the total area fell by 3.39% compared to the previous year. The decrease in vetch and cereals for fodder crops was notable, while maize, sugar beet, fodder turnip, cabbage and kale increased.
The group of vegetables and flowers is, within the arable crops, the one that experiences the smallest decrease in the year 2022 (-0.93%). The decrease in green peas and melons stands out, while watermelon (+38.07%), pepper (+11.59%) and tomato (+10.69%) increased, together with other vegetables such as sweet corn, red cabbage, aubergine and courgette.
Woody crops. In this category, the progressive increase of practically all species stands out, except citrus fruit trees, vineyards and some stone species. As a whole, woody crops increase their surface area by 0.70% compared to 2022.
Vineyards decreased very slightly, dragged down by the decrease in wine grapes (-0.31% compared to 2022). Within citrus fruit trees, all production areas decline, except for bitter orange.
The areas of olive groves (+0.72%), carob trees (+6.70%) and non-citrus fruit trees grew in 2023, the latter mainly due to the increase in pistachio trees, which gained 12,028 hectares, and almond trees, with a further 8,512 new hectares. Avocado, blueberry and mango together add more than 3,000 new hectares compared to 2022. Within the rest of the non-citrus fruit trees, pear (-3.38%), loquat (-9.19%) and apricot (-6.04%), as well as persimmon, among the subtropicals, and walnut and hazelnut in nuts.