Irrigation contracts should be honoured

The Government has a legal and moral duty to deliver on any irrigation contracts that have been signed, Opposition MPs say.

National’s Primary Industries spokesman Nathan Guy said in some instances individual farmers had invested in projects at either a pre-feasibility or feasibility stage.

The Government has pledged to honour the commitments that have been undertaken by Crown Irrigation Investments Limited (CIIL). Since 2013 CIL has spent $136 million, and the former government had committed to provide $400m through to the 2020s.

But MPs were told by Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff at a Primary Production select committee hearing on Thursday that the projects were under review, and even those that had gone through to the feasibility stage would not necessarily be constructed.

MPI official Justine Gilliland said issues around irrigation were being worked through and the process would take ‘‘a couple of months’’.

Officials were asked to clarify whether some of the new $1 billion regional development fund would be used for irrigation, as Regional Development Minister Shane Jones indicated last week.

They were also asked to spell out Jones’s definition of ‘‘localised water storage schemes’’, which Greenpeace has said is another term for irrigation.

CIIL chief executive Murray Gribben said most of the projects he dealt with were localised ones. CIIL had 10 projects ‘‘on the go’’, with one - the Central Plains Water scheme - fully funded and three close to construction.

CIIL board chairwoman Debra Birch said staff were ‘‘OK’’ with the situation at present.

‘‘We’ve had no official advice so it’s hard get too concerned until we get more information.

‘‘We have obligations, legal and otherwise, that we feel should be honoured,’’ Birch said.

Gribben said CIIL was continuing as it always had ‘‘still writing cheques, still funding schemes, we will not stop until we get advice from the new minister’’.

Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Andrew Curtis, who was not at the hearing, said the projects being studied included ones in Northland, Wairarapa, Waimea (Nelson), Flaxbourne (Marlborough), Hurunui, South Canterbury, Kurow, Duntroon, Hunter Downs and Manuherikia.

Meanwhile Curtis has advised irrigators to manage their water allocation carefully over the summer. Some systems might be 20-50 per cent ‘‘out’’ and using more water than needed.

IrrigationNZ had a free ‘‘Check it – Bucket Test’’ app which could be used to check irrigators were applying water evenly.

They should also consider limiting irrigation during high winds or extreme daytime temperatures, to make every drop count.

Other measures farmers could take included:

Checking pressure and sprinklers;

Regularly reviewing soil moisture levels and crop requirements;

Using the most efficient irrigation systems;

Investing in good soil moisture monitoring technology.