Dryland and vegetable production: Irrigation agriculture in Dobrudja continues to be a mirage

Cultivating crops under irrigation conditions in Dobrudja remains a distant dream. This is shared by fruit and vegetable producers who have faced the heavy and cumbersome bureaucratic machinery involved in preparing projects, drilling wells, and installing irrigation facilities. The procedures last for years, and the necessary investments in the face of mounting losses are becoming increasingly high. "We have major problems with water, very little rainfall has fallen, and a large part of our production in the field was zero," shares Galin Georgiyev, who, along with his family, has been growing vegetables in the Dobrudjan village of Opanets since 2015. The farmer shares that bean yields were zero. The same goes for melons and watermelons. "We cultivate 2 decares of greenhouses with vegetables, 25 decares in the open field, and we plan to have 75 decares next year. However, to manage and move forward, we will focus on crops that can be grown mechanically and without irrigation. ...