La Pampa strengthens its irrigation system with a private investment of almost $10,000 million

With darts at the national government and its neighbor Mendozathe administration of The Pampa progresses in strengthening and modernizing its irrigation system through a public-private initiative that has already managed to raise nearly $10,000 million.

Since the Peronist administration Sergio Ziliotto They highlighted that an investment in irrigation by the Pampas provincial government “doubled the number of productive hectares in Casa de Piedra and plans to reach a total of 1,200 in a few years.”

In the province they pointed out that ““Faced with the withdrawal of the nation, La Pampa faces the process of desertification, a consequence of Mendoza’s management of rivers, with its own initiatives and investments.” “Thanks to this effort, Casa de Piedra goes from being a desert to a tourist and productive town,” explains the head of the Provincial Foreign Trade and Investment Agency.Sebastian Lastiri.

La Pampa strengthens its irrigation system

This is a project that began in 2007 with exploratory studies, then financing was obtained from the Federal Investment Council. The next step was the installation of an experimental farm, which determined that the weather conditions, with low risk of late and early frosts; The favorable soil and a more than adequate wind regime make the region an optimal place for the production of quality vines, olive trees and a diversity of nuts, such as pistachios, almonds and walnuts.

A pumping system and a collection cistern are already in operation, which allow irrigation of an area of ​​413 hectares that were practically unproductive in the dry land. These lands have already been put out to tender and businesses linked to vines and dried fruit are being established.

In the first months of 2023, aware of the scenario that was coming, Ziliotto ordered the Ministries of Production, Treasury and Finance, the Provincial Entity of the Colorado River (EPRC), the National University of La Pampa (UNLPam) and the Foreign Trade and Investment Agency of the province to “switch to gasoline” and “turn on the turbo.”

“Public investment first provided a lot of key information to determine what productive activities were possible and then developed very efficient management of water resources. After that, the governor commissioned us to develop a package of instruments that would facilitate the arrival of investors. In less than a year we managed to have establishments in the production phase,” adds Lastiri.

“The package includes housing for the people who are going to work on those farms to settle, credits at a subsidized rate and tax incentives. Without this provincial effort, without the public-private coordination, without the technical work, none of this would have been possible or it would have been a very high-risk investment for the private sector,” concludes the official.

“The national government misappropriates funds that belong to the provinces, by the constitution or by federal agreements. This generates a reduction in support programs for private initiative, such as loans at a subsidized rate that facilitated the development of SMEs, for example. This explains why the job creation process has first stopped and then began a reversal. The investment numbers are the worst in more than twenty years, only comparable to those of 2001. La Pampa is not an island and it also suffers from it.”

The water issue

The water issue is one of the central points on Ziliotto’s agenda, as it was also for his predecessors. La Pampa has been in a decades-long dispute with Mendoza over its management of the Atuel River upstream. It comes from obtaining a favorable ruling in the nation’s Supreme Court, which forces the neighboring province to guarantee a minimum flow until the underlying issue is resolved.

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The governor of La Pampa, Sergio Ziliotto.

“One of the central elements of the presentation prior to that ruling was a very exhaustive report carried out by UNPam, which explains the negative impact at the demographic and biodiversity levels, in addition to the economic one.”

Sergio Ziliotto He is, along with his peers from Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, from Formosa, Gildo Insfrán, and from La Rioja, Ricardo Quintela, one of the Peronist governors who did not vote for the RIGI or attend the May Pact, finally signed in July. The recent investment in Casa de Piedra also contributes to antagonizing the economic model of the chainsaw.